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Lisa Kelly (Irish Laoise Ní Cheallaigh, born 7 May 1977 in Dublin, Ireland) is a singer of both Classical and Celtic music. She has taken part in many musical theatre productions and concerts, and is currently a member of the musical group Celtic Woman.

Early Life

Lisa Kelly was born into a musical family, with both her parents and sisters being singers. Lisa herself has been singing since the age of seven, when she starred in the musical version of Bugsy Malone. Her parents are both heavily involved in amateur theatre, influencing Lisa toward studying drama, as well as being classically trained in both piano and singing. During her musical career, she has played several principal roles, such as "Velma Kelly" in Chicago, "Florence" in Chess, "Laurey" in Oklahoma!, "Maria" in West Side Story, and "Sandy" in Grease.

In addition, she has performed in a number of concerts in Dublin's National Concert Hall, including The Magic of Gershwin, The Music of Cole Porter and From Romberg to Rodgers, and has won numerous national awards for singing and drama.

Riverdance

After deciding to take a break from her day job in the computer industry to return to theatre, she played the lead role in the Christmas pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. This led to her being cast in the American production of Riverdance - The Show as lead female vocalist in 2000, a position she held for five years while touring. While touring with Riverdance, Lisa met Australian dancer Scott Porter, who would later become her husband.

Solo album

In 2002, Lisa was asked to record a solo album with director David Downes on the Celtic Collections label. The resulting debut album, Lisa, was released in 2003. Songs featured on this CD are "Carrickfergus", "Siúil A Rún", "The Deer's Cry", "Lift the Wings", "The Soft Goodbye", "Home and the Heartland", "Homecoming", "Now We Are Free", "Dubhdarra", "May It Be", and "Send Me a Song".

Celtic Woman

Lisa was again approached by Downes in 2004, and asked to be part of Celtic Woman, originally planned as a one-night event at Dublin's Helix Theatre. The group has since released five albums and DVD performances of their concerts and embarked on several world tours.

Lisa says she accepted a spot in Celtic Woman because, as she says, "I wasn't doing anything else that day." She didn't know any of the artists she would be performing with when they first got together but Kelly stated that "the show is blessed with the girls [the show's creators] picked."^[1] She has toured with Celtic Woman throughout most of their tours and appears in every CD and DVD to date.

Songs performed with Celtic Woman

Lisa performs different songs with Celtic Woman. She sings "Send Me a Song" and "The Blessing", both originals that have been featured on the original and A New Journey CDs, DVDs, and tours respectively. They were written by David Downes and feature him on the piano. Another song written by David Downes is "Green the Whole Year Round", which has been featured on the Christmas Celebration DVD and Greatest Journey CD and DVD, but not any tour.

Lisa performs "The Voice" in A New Journey, which was originally supposed to be sung by Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, and also features fiddler Máiréad Nesbitt. "The Voice" was written by Irish novelist and composer Brendan Graham. Another song that Lisa performs in the original performance is "May It Be", originally from the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Lisa sings "Caledonia" in A New Journey, and sung Sting's "Fields of Gold" during the Isle of Hope tour.

Maternity break

During the A New Journey tour, Lisa took a break for the birth of her third child, Ellie. She was replaced by Alex Sharpe who would later become a full-time member of Celtic Woman when Orla Fallon left.^[2]

Family

Lisa is the mother of three: sons Cian and Jack and daughter Ellie. She calls them, "hands down, the most important parts of my life", and they accompany her on tour when they are not in school. Lisa's sister Helen has performed with Celtic Woman in the choir.

References

External links

• Lisakellysite.com - Official website
• Profile at CelticWoman.com
• Lisa Kelly at the Internet Movie Database