Kelly Hatcher was born on March 13, 1969 in Dallas, Texas. When he was five, he got a guitar for Christmas. It was a four-string Fender electric mandolin with a Supro amp. Weekends with his father were usually spent hanging out at local guitar shops. By the time he was ten, he had outgrown his first guitar, so his father built him a 1/4 scale Strat-copy.
Though Kelly had been taking lessons, he didn't have a real desire to play until he began working as a guitar tech for the Stratoblasters in 1987. The band had three top-notch guitar players (Jimmy Wallace, Matt Tapp and Mike “JR” Clark) and played music ranging from B.B., Freddie and Albert to the Allman Brothers to Sam and Dave. Not only did this inspire him to form his first band, it also allowed him to meet, and on rare occasions, to sit in with great local artists like Memo Gonzales, Maylee Thomas and Bugs Henderson.
After becoming burned out with his first band, Probable Cause, it wasn’t until a friend took him to see Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat in 1994 that he had the desire to play guitar again. The band Third Degree formed a few weeks later and by a bit of luck started a two and a half-year run of the blues jam at O’Riley’s. Not only was this the first time Kelly had ever fronted a band, but it was also his first time to sing in public. Third Degree lasted about almost three years, and even though they had developed a good following, the band broke up.
In April of 1997, the Kelly Hatcher Band started another extremely popular blues jam at Rocky’s. Kelly also worked with Kerrie LePai and the Shifters, hosting jams at the Texas Trap and Schooner’s. Between these two bands he was working 15 to 20 nights a month on average, playing clubs like Hole in the Wall, Greenville Ave. Bar and Grill, The Bone, The Blue Mule, Lakewood Bar and Grill and Blue Cat Blues.
Information from the band's site
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»Kelly Hatcher: guitar, lead vocals, vocals
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»Rob Hunt: guitar
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»Jerry DeCicco: bass
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»Darren Denny: drums
