Joshua Bishop Kelley (born January 30, 1980)
is an American musician and singer-songwriter. Kelley has recorded for
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...
,
Threshold Records and DNK Records as a
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...
artist. His songs "Amazing" and "Only You" reached the top ten on the ''Billboard''
Adult Top 40
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...
chart.
In 2010, Kelley signed to
MCA Nashville and began a
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
career. His debut country single, "
Georgia Clay", reached the top 20 on the
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
charts.
Kelley is married to actress and model
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and model. She portrayed Izzie Stevens, Dr. Izzie Stevens on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2010, a role that b ...
. They have three children.
Early life
Kelley was born in
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a city on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Augusta, the third mos ...
,
to Dr. John W. Kelley, a cardiologist, and Gayle Kelley. Kelley began his musical career at the age of 11. His younger brother,
Charles Kelley, is a musician and singer in the country trio
Lady A
Lady A, known until 2020 as Lady Antebellum, is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar ...
. When he was a teenager, Kelley and his brother Charles formed a band called Inside Blue. By the time he was 14, the band released a CD with five songs on it, which led to a meeting with
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
. Kelley played the guitar in the high school jazz band alongside Charles (drums) and Dave Haywood (guitar) from Lady A.
Kelley attended the
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi (Epithet, byname Ole Miss) is a Public university, public research university in University, near Oxford, Mississippi, United States, with a University of Mississippi Medical Center, medical center in Jackson, Miss ...
in
Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford is the List of municipalities in Mississippi, 14th most populous city in Mississippi, United States, and the county seat of Lafayette County, Mississippi, Lafayette County, southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis. A college town, Oxford ...
, and is a member of
Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig or KSig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international Fraternities and sororities in North America, fr ...
fraternity.
Music career
Kelley released his
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
album, ''Changing Faces'', in 2001 and signed with
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...
in 2002. Working with
John Alagia as his record producer, Kelley released the album, ''
For the Ride Home
For or FOR may refer to:
English language
*For, a preposition#Definition, preposition
*For, a complementizer
*For, a grammatical conjunction#Types of conjunction, grammatical conjunction
Science and technology
* Fornax, a constellation
* for loo ...
'', on June 3, 2003.
Even though Kelley has stated that the lyrics from his song "Angeles" were fabricated, he moved to Los Angeles from Georgia and recorded the majority of his second album, ''
Almost Honest'', in the studio of his home. ''Almost Honest'' was released on August 23, 2005, and featured the hit single, "
Only You."
After asking to be released from his contract with Hollywood Records, Kelley released his third album, ''Just Say The Word'' under his own label, Threshold. The digital version of the album was released through
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
on June 6, 2006, while the physical album was released in stores in the United States on July 25, 2006. "The Pop Game" was the first single from his self-produced album and was accompanied by a cartoon video.
Kelley's next album, ''Special Company'', was released in the United States on January 14, 2008. His label, Threshold, was renamed DNK Records so as to avoid confusion with another record label by the same name. Kelley also released a digital album that summer titled ''Backwoods'' on July 7. On September 23 of that year, Kelley released the album ''To Remember'' exclusively through Target stores. The title track was also included on the
AT&T
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
Team USA Soundtrack.
Kelley is a supporter of
file sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...
applications for independent artists who have a difficult time receiving an audience. In fact, Kelley was "found" after targeting Eric Clinger at
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...
with private
spam
Spam most often refers to:
* Spam (food), a consumer brand product of canned processed pork of the Hormel Foods Corporation
* Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages
** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages
...
, "If you like
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...
, Try Josh Kelley," messages using the
Napster
Napster was an American proprietary peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing application primarily associated with digital audio file distribution. Founded by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, the platform originally launched on June 1, 1999. Audio shared ...
program.
In November 2009, Kelley signed with
MCA Nashville and began recording his first country album in 2010. The album's first single, "
Georgia Clay", was released to country radio in August 2010. The single became a Top 20 hit on the
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart. The album, also entitled ''
Georgia Clay'', was released in March 2011.
Kelley released the album ''New Lane Road'' in 2016.
Concert tours
;Supporting
*Revolution Tour with
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Leigh Lambert (born November 10, 1983) is an American country music, country singer. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place ...
(2011)
*Own the Night Tour with
Lady A
Lady A, known until 2020 as Lady Antebellum, is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar ...
(2011)
*The Driver Tour with
Charles Kelley (2016)
Personal life
Kelley met actress
Katherine Heigl
Katherine Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and model. She portrayed Izzie Stevens, Dr. Izzie Stevens on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2010, a role that b ...
in spring 2005 when she appeared in his music video "
Only You". One year later, in June 2006, they became engaged. He wrote the song "Hey Katie" for Heigl. The Heigl-Kelley wedding took place on December 23, 2007, at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in
Park City, Utah
Park City is a city in Utah, United States. Most of the city is within Summit County, Utah, Summit County, with some portions extending into Wasatch County, Utah, Wasatch County. It is considered to be part of the Wasatch Back. The city is sou ...
. Heigl's ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...
'' co-stars
T.R. Knight,
Sandra Oh
Sandra Miju Oh (born July 20, 1971) is a Canadian and American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Rita Wu in ''Arliss (TV series), Arliss'' (1996–2002), Cristina Yang in ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005–14), and Eve Polastri in ''Kill ...
,
Ellen Pompeo
Ellen Kathleen Pompeo (; born November 10, 1969) is an American actress. One of the world's highest-paid actors since 2017, she has made multiple appearances on ''Forbes'' year-end lists. Her accolades include a Screen Actors Guild Award and a ...
and
Justin Chambers attended the ceremony, as well as ''Grey's Anatomy'' spinoff series ''
Private Practice'' star
Kate Walsh. The ceremony was officiated by
Unitarian minister Tom Goldsmith. Heigl walked down the aisle to an acoustic song written by Kelley and performed by a cello and guitar players. The couple wrote their own vows.
During a taping of ''
Live With Regis and Kelly'', Heigl stated that she and Kelley chose not to live together before they were married, saying, "I think I just wanted to save something for the actual marriage... I wanted there to be something to make the actual marriage different than the dating or the courtship."
In 2009, the couple adopted a South Korean baby girl, naming her Nancy Leigh, after Heigl's mother and her adopted, Korean-born older sister, respectively. Nancy Leigh's nickname is Naleigh. Nancy Leigh was born with a congenital heart defect that was repaired with
open heart surgery before she left South Korea. Kelley and Heigl adopted a second daughter, Adalaide Marie Hope, in April 2012.
In addition to their two daughters, Josh Kelley and Katherine Heigl have a son, Joshua Bishop Kelley Jr., born December 20, 2016.
Kelley, Heigl, and their children live in
Oakley, Utah.
Goin' country – Katie Heigl and Josh Kelley now call Utah home , Salt Lake Magazine
Retrieved September 6, 2018.
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
Guest singles
Other contributions
Music videos
References
External links
*
*
Josh Kelley collection
at the Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
's live music archive
"The Prince & Me" movie
* Billboard Song Chart History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Josh
1980 births
Living people
American country singer-songwriters
American country rock singers
American rock singers
American rock songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
Hollywood Records artists
Musicians from Augusta, Georgia
Writers from Augusta, Georgia
University of Mississippi alumni
MCA Records artists
Male actors from Augusta, Georgia
People from Evans, Georgia
People from Oakley, Utah
21st-century American singer-songwriters
Singer-songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state)
Singer-songwriters from Utah