Kelly Brothers Explained

The Kelly Brothers were a 1960s Chicago gospel quartet, which also sang R&B as the King Pins. The group comprised brothers Curtis, Robert and Andrew Kelly with the fourth part sung by Charles Lee or Offe Reece.^{[1] [2]} The group gave King Records their only Chicago success in the soul idiom as the King Pins with "It Won't Be This Way (Always)," in 1963, which reached number twelve on Billboard's R&B chart.^[3]

In 1966, the Kelly Brothers reached #39 on the Billboard R&B singles chart with "Falling in Love Again."

Notes and References

1. Alan Young Woke Me Up This Morning: Black Gospel Singers and the Gospel Life 1604737328 2012 "In the 1960s, brothers Curtis, Robert and Andrew Kelly, from Chicago, sang gospel as the Kelly Brothers, and R&B as the King Pins, producing one of the more singular examples of tailoring the song to the market. Their 1960 recording of “He's All Right” has the first verse: He's all right, Jesus is all right. He's been with ...
2. Robert M. Marovich A City Called Heaven: Chicago and the Birth of Gospel Music- 2015 0252097084 Both sides of the group's third single, “He's Alright” and “He's the Same today,” became radio hits.122 The discs showcased the group's churchy, vocally intense, guitar-driven approach, a style that was prevalent among gospel quartets during the early 1960s. The Kelly Brothers recorded another eight sides in February 1962, and Thompson was sufficiently confident of the quartet's sales potential to package most of their singles on an LP called The Kelly Brothers Sing a Page of Songs ..."
3. Robert Pruter Chicago Soul 1992-0252062590 Page 236 "The one Chicago success the company had in the soul idiom was the King Pins' "It Won't Be This Way (Always)," in 1963 (number twelve on Billboard's r&b chart).The King Pins were actually a long-time gospel group, the Kelly Brothers (Andrew, Curtis, and Robert Kelly, Charles Lee, and Offe Reece), and the song was essentially a "gospel number" thinly disguised with secular lyrics."