JD Kelleher first landed on the Irish music scene when his 2015 cover of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ topped the Irish rock charts for the marriage equality referendum, knocking Bono & Bibi King’s ‘When Love Came to Town’ off the top spot.
The track reached number 23 on Ireland’s all-songs chart despite receiving no national radio airplay at the time.
The world must keep turning. The show must go on. Production still from my new music video Give Me Light, coming your way on Jan 15th. #lights #camera #action pic.twitter.com/O1TCbIvmWS
— JD Kelleher (@jd_kelleher) January 6, 2021
Since then JD has been making music and music videos alongside an acting career. London based JD has appeared on most of Ireland and the UK’s theatre stages including the Abbey in Dublin, Galway’s Druid and London’s West End, National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. He has appeared on television shows such as ‘The Forgotten Seven: Willie Pearse’ and ‘Ros na Run’ (TG4), ‘Finding Joy’ (RTE) ‘Out on 4’ (Channel4) and ‘Little Britain’, ‘Murphy’s Law’, ‘Holby’ (BBC.)
In 2019, JD won Best Music Video at the Brighton Rocks Film festival for ‘Redeem’, the “neo-noir power tune drama-ballad”, written by Dubliner Peter M Smith and produced by Londoner Herman Stephens. An actor by trade, it’s perhaps not surprising that JD’s videos and visuals play a big role in his music.
His latest single and video release is called ‘Give Me Light’ and is set for release on January 15 2021.
Filmed on Fanore Beach, County Clare just before the first lockdown. Kelleher describes the song as “…a cool, chilled gay love song with lovely appropriate pronouns and everything.”
Give Me Light is the final track from JD’s debut EP, The Ugly Tree, available on all platforms. All of the tracks have glorious visuals available to watch his YouTube channel.
JD has played regularly at the legendary Dublin Castle in Camden, London, most famous perhaps for launching the career of Madness in the 80s and many bands of the 90s Britpop genre such as Blur and The Libertines, and at The Water Rats, Kings Cross.
JD supported legendary Irish guitarist and songwriter Bernie Tormé in Brighton, Manchester and London in 2019 on what turned out to be Torme’s final tour.
Debut video Love Will Tear Us Apart nominated for Dublin Short Film & Music Festival Best Music Video 2017.
‘Somebody/Nobody’ was the runner-up for the first London Rocks Film Festival 2020 Best Music Video.
Follow JD Kelleher on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to be the first to see the video for ‘Give Me Light’ on January 15.
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