Memphis Songwriter Jim Kellum

Memphis Jim Kellum - Bio
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Hometown – Memphis, TN
Age: 48
Status: Single
Orientation: Straight
About me:
I was born in 1959, and I can’t remember a time when music was not in my life. I can remember children’s records when I was 3 or 4, a couple of Soupy Sales’ numbers, (Little Red Caboose and The Cat Came Back).
I can remember at 6, being sick with the Chicken Pox, listening to The Beatles ‘Do you Want To Know A Secret?’ – great melody, and words easy enough for a 6 year old to understand.
The Monkees came on the scene the next year. It seems if you were a kid in the 60’s and 70’s you were bombarded with music on TV; everything from The Banana splits, The Archies, The Partridge Family, to Josie and the Pussycats.
I got my first guitar at age 13, and was hooked. At age 14, I started playing and singing with my church and school choirs, at parties, and anywhere someone would let me. During junior and senior high, I was playing with 3 or 4 bands at a time. By the time I got to college, I was playing at clubs all over Memphis, always trying to get ‘in the business’ somehow.
At age 14, a friend got me an ‘as needed’ job as an usher for concerts in the Memphis area. I thought, ‘Gee, I get to see the concert for free, and I get paid to be there. Being a big guy (I was 6’ 3”, 210lbs at 14, by the time I was 18 I was 6’ 5”. 250 lbs), the local concert promoters solicited me to work stage security. ( I am now 6’ 5”, 180lbs – went through an intensive weight loss in 1992, but that’s another story). So from age 18 to 22 I was gigging around town, going to college, working as a subsistute teacher, and keeping rowdy rock fans from getting on stage.
In 1982 I moved to Panama City Beach, FL, because I always liked it there, and was offered a good job with a Memphis-based freight company that would pay the bills and support my music habit. I played the clubs of the gulf Coast as a solo act, a duo, a trio, and a 5 piece rock band. Meeting people and making new friends, it was during this time that I was recruited into doing bodyguard work. We worked rock stars, country stars, and sports figures.
In late 1983, I moved back to Memphis, and made the decision to go into personal management. I had grown tired of playing clubs at night, working a regular job during the day, and being on call 24/7 for bodyguard gigs. Starting in 1984, and running until 1991, I ran what I called ‘Problem Child Music Management’. I handled songwriters and musicians who had had success in the past, and needed management help with paperwork, collecting royalties, taxes – the whole gamut. It was during this time that I also started booking club gigs for bands, and promoting and producing other bands to the record companies.
By 1991, I was totally burned out as a personal manager, due to handling so many peoples’ business problems, and personal problems (you don’t get involved with musicians without problems), so I left the music scene to write and take photos for the new Memphis Star Magazine. This was fun compared to all the previous music-related positions I had occupied over the years. I shot some of my favorite photographs during this time (go to my pics to view), and got to meet, interview, and photograph many interesting and talented people. It was during this time that my love for playing music came back to me, and I said to myself; ‘Jim, you can play, sing, write, do the paperwork, and take care of yourself.”
So, in 1992, I starting writing and producing my own songs, and I’ve never looked back! I’ve made great friends, seen incredible players, and I just keep going on. For tomorrow – who knows what will happen next??
Check out my 'five minute movie', The Settlement, starring yours truly as 'The Hitman'.

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