Olympia date for ray kelly

Father Ray Kelly has added a Kilkenny date at The Set Theatre on Tuesday 17th February. The Navan based priest will perform live at The Olympia Theatre two days later on Thursday 19th February.

Father Ray’s debut album 'Where I Belong' hit the top five in the Irish charts on release last December.

Father Ray became an overnight singing sensation when a video of his performance of “Hallelujah” at a wedding on April 5th 2014 appeared on Youtube. The video went viral, bringing Ray to the attention of millions of people all over the world.

Father Ray’s album is reflective of his celtic roots and encompasses some very well know classic Irish songs, as well as more contemporary pop songs. It is an album which has been produced to speak the same emotional language as Father Ray, it is enveloped in Irish motives and will emigrated Celts and the Christian market across the world.

The first single from this album is 'Together Forever (The Wedding Song)', which is an original song on the album. The sentiment and feel of this song draws even further on the union of love and marriage and the official video for this will act as a continuation of what has already started on YouTube.

Born in Tyrrellspass, Co Westmeath in April 1953, Ray moved to Dublin and worked in the Civil Service. In 1982 he was called to the priesthood and embarked on seven years of studies which culminated in him being ordained as a priest in 1989. He joined the St Patrick’s Missionary Society (Kiltegan Fathers) and worked as a Missionary in pre-Apartheid South Africa from 1991-1992 and did Mission Appeal work in the US. He went on to serve as an Army Chaplain in the US and Northern Ireland. He returned to Ireland and served as a priest in Navan, Co Meath for nine years.

Father Ray was appointed as parish priest in Oldcastle in 2006 and as one of his great loves was singing, he built a home studio in one of the rooms of his parish house to indulge his passion for his hobby. He was often asked to sing at local events, but never thought it would lead to anything, until he sang at the wedding of Chris and Leah O’Kane. However, Ray made it clear to everyone that he wasn't giving up his job as Parish Priest in the Co Meath town of Oldcastle. Indeed to record Ray’s album, his producers built a recording booth in the lounge of his house, so that he could attend to his Parish duties.

The album 'Where I Belong' is out now.

Tickets for Father Ray Kelly live at The Olympia on Thursday 19th February priced from €28 including booking fee via Ticketmaster.