From The Voice to the Oscars: Kelly’s golden rise

JUDAH Kelly always had belief, he just needed the right moment and the right people to help him shine.

The Brisbane-based singer-songwriter has been on the ride of a lifetime since winning The Voice in 2017.

Releasing his debut single, touring the country and blowing up on social media – the success has quickly mounted for the 29-year-old.

His life changed forever this month when he stood shoulder to shoulder with Michael B Jordon, Timothee Chalamet and Buddy Guy.

 

Now, he’s part of an Academy Award winning short film – a triumph in what were incredible circumstances.

“I didn’t know how to feel,” Kelly said of the win.

“Acting was never anything to me, and to now come through with an Oscar – it was so unexpected.”

Kelly played a starring role in the short film The Singers, which jointly won Best Live Action Short Film at the 98th Academy Awards earlier this month.

The Singers is a genre-bending film in which a pub full of street performing men connect unexpectedly through an impromptu sing-off.

 

The cast was entirely made of first-time actors, many of whom were cast from social media from across the globe.

Described as “a diamond in the rough”, the film won 35 awards across 50 festival appearances.

“It’s just insane,” Kelly said. “I’d never had any interest in acting or had done anything like that and then it happened.

“I got an email one day with all the information and I ignored it at first.”

He said he thought it was a scam.

“Before I knew it, I was on a flight to Los Angeles to do this film,” Kelly said.

 

The film was released on Netflix in February and amassed 5 million views in the first week.

Its instant success and Kelly’s rise to stardom on the big screen was “as odd and as random as it sounds”, according to him.

“Someone made a comment on Facebook of ‘you can tick this off your bucket list’, but truly it was never even a possibility,” Kelly said.

“It was insane, red carpets, five blocks of police barricades and more.

“As a blues guy, my interaction with Buddy Guy was my most cherished moment.”

Kelly said in life his motto had always been “if there’s an opportunity, I follow it”.

“When The Voice hit me up, I had no intention of going on after not having success on The X-Factor twice. I didn’t think I was good for TV, but that was business,” Kelly said.

 

“I was a typical broke musician and I just figured I’ll have a crack. I made it through round by round and it came to fruition.

“Similarly with the film, an opportunity to get some financial help came up to help get me to the United States. I felt uncomfortable by it, but I had to take the opportunity.”

Now back in Australia, Kelly is touring the country with a Motown tribute show called The Big Chillout.

The live music theatre show, which celebrates the iconic soundtrack that helped bring Motown back, will make its way to the Geelong Arts Centre on 12 June.

“I absolutely jumped on board due to my love of Motown music,” he said.

“It’s my chance to share my account of the music that I grew up loving.”