Tony Kelly’s new artiste is 1 MILLION IN A
GRAMMY AWARD-winning producer, Tony ‘CD’ Kelly, first met the Jamaica-born, London-raised vocalist, Khalia Million, in November 2016, and immediately had the urge to take control of the burgeoning artiste’s career.
Khalia Million, credited simply as Khalia, is the first female recording artiste signed on Kelly’s K-licious Music label. After signing the artiste in January of this year, the work began. Six months later, the high-energy Ride Up dancehall track featuring dancehall diva Tifa was created.
Ride Up has received over 100,000 views on YouTube and slowly climbing various local charts. But, Khalia is wasting no time watching numbers, as her attention is now focused on promoting, Let Me Be Me, which was released little over a week ago by the K-licious Music. KELLY
The first solo single for the songbird was accompanied by a ‘lyric video’, until the official music video is shared. Prior to its release, an unofficial mash up (a combination of two or more songs recorded on different rhythms) of ‘90s dancehall tracks, including Sean Paul’s
Deport Them and Sasha’s Dat Sexy Body (both recorded on the widely played Bookshelf riddim produced by Kelly in 1998), was remixed with Let Me Be Me, as a preview.
“Let Me Be Me, is meant to be an inspiration to anyone who wants to be different and to take it a level that is better than their best,” said Khalia.
“I want to be an artiste that portrays dancehall music in a positive light as I have recognised that there are still persons who don’t see the beauty of our culture,” she continued. MAKE MUSIC WITH A VISA
The emerging artiste has been improving on her performing talent for a while, actively conducting a voice-over business and as a vocal actor, even acquiring a minor role on the High School Musical Tour in the United Kingdom for three months.
“Khalia’s drive was impressive, for some reason she proves that she wants this more at the level of a Shaggy (who essentially introduced the artiste to Tony Kelly) and a Sean Paul,” explained Kelly.
Tony Kelly recently earned an award at the Broadcast Music Inc BMI ceremony (which he attended with Khalia in Atlanta) for having one of the 35 most played R&B and hip hop songs in 2017, for the track Luv, by Tory Lanez.
“The label always makes music with visa, so to speak, not those that only last for a period or segregated to one type of listener,” he continued.
The career of the producer and label owner began during the period when compact discs were taking over vinyl. Kelly acted as an assistant engineer at the Tuff Gong Studios and intrinsically attained the knowledge in acoustics, basic production and the business of the music industry.
“I am continually reinventing myself and doing research on ways to utilise the new technology that is emerging in the industry,” said Kelly when asked about adjusting to the production methods of this millennium.
He is confident in the many talents of Khalia Million and is professionally attracted to the edgy style of the rising star. Since the working relationship has been established between Kelly and Khalia, they have not only focused on recording, but have raised money to purchase supplies like computers for Content Primary School.
A mini social media competition also led to one child being awarded $10,000 for back to school preparations. Let Me Be
Me, is now available on most digital outlets including Spotify, Tidal, Pandora and Apple Music.
K-licious Music continues the journey in recapturing its old audiences and gaining new followers.