The Kelly Family

The Kelly Family is an Irish-American-European music group consisting of a multi-generational family, usually consisting of nine siblings joined occasionally on stage in their earlier years by their father and mother. They play a repertoire of rock, pop, and folk music. They have had chart and concert success around the world, especially in Germany, the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, Poland, Spain and Portugal. They have officially sold over 20 million albums, though they sold their albums on concerts from Tours Europe to Over the Hump, except the Polydor years. The Kelly Family was ranked as the 6th most popular music act in Germany in the 1990s. Despite its Irish-American origins, the group is virtually unknown in Ireland and the United States. They have sung in English, Spanish, German, Italian, Basque, French, Dutch, Irish, Luxembourgish, Latin and Japanese. The group was formed as The Kelly Kids in 1974. For many years, the group presented a ragamuffin image and a vagabonding lifestyle, travelling around Europe in a double-decker bus and houseboat. Their image was enhanced by their eclectic and often homemade clothing, and the very long hair worn by both male and female members of the band. The Kelly Family began to break up in 2000 and afterwards they performed mostly as individuals or sub-sets of the full group and took on a more mainstream look.