| Emma Kelly | |
| Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth Date: | 17 December 1918 |
| Birth Place: | Statesboro, Georgia |
| Death Place: | Savannah, Georgia |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Instrument: | Piano |
| Years Active: | 1940s–1980s |
Emma Thompson Kelly (December 17, 1918 – January 17, 2001) was an American musician. Known as the "Lady of 6,000 Songs", she appeared in both John Berendt's 1994 book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and its 1997 movie adaptation.
Her nickname was given to her by Johnny Mercer, who — after challenging her to play numerous songs he named — estimated she knew 6,000 songs from memory.[1]
Kelly was married to George Kelly for 47 years — from 1936 until his death from a heart attack in 1983 at the age of 70.[1] Together, they had ten children.
With Joe Odom, Kelly was a co-owner of the short-lived Emma's piano bar in an old cotton warehouse on Savannah's River Street. The bar was forced to close after Odom squandered its earnings. "He could do you wrong. And he did me wrong," Kelly said in 1997, six years after Odom's death. "But I miss Joe. I get a little teary-eyed thinking about him. He had a flair for coming up with good ideas."[2]
As of 1994, she was performing weekly sittings at Hard-Hearted Hannah's East, above the Pirates' House in Savannah, Georgia.[3]
Kelly died on January 17, 2001, from a liver ailment. She was 82.[4]
Kelly was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1998.[5] She performed at the event.[6]