Tim Kelly
|
Tim Kelly at a Slaughter autograph signing. |
Timothy Patrick Kelly (
January 13,
1963 -
February 15,
1998) was the
guitarist for the band
Slaughter. He was killed in an auto accident in
1998.
Jeff Blando replaced Kelly's guitar spot in Slaughter in
1998.
Tim Kelly was born on
January 13,
1963 in
Trenton, New Jersey. Tim was a self-taught
guitar player and began his music career around the sixth grade. He was inspired by other guitarists such as
Rick Derringer and
Peter Frampton.
Some of the bands Kelly played in during his career included
Hellion,
New Haven, and
Allegiance (that was fronted by his brother Brian) along with a couple other cover bands. After no real success with these bands, Kelly teamed up with
Mark Slaughter and
Dana Strum (both of which came from
Vinnie Vincent Invasion) to form a new group with their own original music. They later found
Blas Elias and he joined as their
drummer. Thus, the group
Slaughter was formed in late-
1988.
With
Slaughter, Kelly was a collaborator, writing and playing several songs. In the first album of the band (
Stick It To Ya), he wrote and performed an instrumental piece called
"Thinking of June" which he dedicated to his
sister who died in
1982 from
ovarian cancer. In all, Kelly released four studio
albums with the band, and two
live albums, the last of which (
Eternal Live) was released posthumously and includes a
pictorial and video tribute to Kelly.
Amidst all the band's activity, Kelly found time to be active in
community service, particularly in reaching out to our troubled
youth with a positive message. Kelly was open about having himself a bit of a troubled past and considered that important to get his message through.
On
February 5,
1998, Kelly died in an
auto accident in
Bagdad, Arizona. At the time of his death, he resided in
Henderson, Nevada.
*
Slaughter 
