Every family has one; the one person who has talent worthy of recognition. Not just the one who can sing at family reunions or the one who can cook their a$$ off. The one who becomes a professional singer or becomes a professional chef. That one.
We have many talented people in our family with talents that range from the performing arts to business management. But our family legend took his talent and made it a family business.
Paul Lawrence Dunbar Kelly is our family legend.
To the public, he was known as Paul Kelly (his wikipedia page). I called him Uncle Lawrence. He was certainly a colorful character. He was a mix of confidence, humor, intelligence, creative genius and eccentricity all rolled up in one. He would sometimes say the craziest things, but if you understood the foundation on which he made his statement, it wasn’t that crazy at all.
Growing up, we always knew that Uncle Lawrence was a famous singer. I never actually got to see him perform live, but the house was always full of his music. My aunts, Juanita (his wife) and Verdell (his sister) were his background singers. They all wrote a lot of the songs he sang and the family even started a publishing company that also included my Dad, Aunt June and Uncle John.
He had a “Paul Kelly” Van that he must have used to transport the band and the equipment. As a child, you don’t think about these things. All I know is that it was considered a treat to ride in it. We (my cousins and I) would race to sit in the backseat of the van. Whenever we hit a bump, we would almost hit our heads on the roof and we’d yell “Bump! De Lump!” Makes no sense to other folks, but that was what we did in the back of the “Paul Kelly” Van J.
I recently enrolled in a Broadcast Production program to become a recording engineer. Having attained some technical knowledge, I reached out to Uncle Lawrence to see what I could do to help him revitalize his music (he was really big in the 60s and early 70s). Most of what he needed, I didn’t have the talent to provide. He needed marketing. But the technical stuff I could handle. I helped him release an MP3 album (1984 )through iTunes and other various online stores. In doing that, I learned that he had his own record and publishing company.
I also learned that he has a loyal fan base in the UK (Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven). I often wondered what would have happened if Uncle Lawrence had actually moved to London instead of South Carolina. He’d probably be like one of those classic performers who never stop touring and performing.
Uncle Lawrence passed away on Sunday, August 19, 2012. There is nothing that can fill the void he left in our family. But his music will live on and I will continue to be its advocate.
My next goal: Get his music on Pandora.
Here are a few of my favorite songs by Uncle Lawrence:
