Sibyl D Kelley

The Indigenous Biography of Cleo Kelley offers a vivid portrait of Clifford Kelly Sr of Lawtey, Florida capturing key moments that shaped his life. From the sacred sands of ancient Kemet to the challenges of precolonial and postcolonial America, this is the ancestry, genealogy, heritage, and enduring legacy of Clifford ＂Schoolboy＂ Kelly-a self-made blues music Artist Promoter and Master Concrete Finisher.

Born in 1918 in Blythe, Georgia, he was named Cleosie Daniel by his teenage mother, Emma Kate Daniel. In time, young Emma entrusted her son to adoption. He was renamed Cleo Kelley by his adoptive parents, John and Nellie Kelley of Burke County, Georgia. The child’s father, John Wesley Garrer, had been entrained for service in World War I (WWI).

In the midst of the Great Migration, 18-year-old Cleo Kelly boarded a train with his uncle Grady Lee Daniel, leaving Augusta, Georgia, behind as they headed toward North Florida. Amid the backdrop of World War II (WWII), he secured work as a Laborer for Seaboard Airline Railway-and it was then that Cleo Kelley became Clifford Kelly. In 1954, he imagined owning a night club, similar to the one owned by his father John Wesley Garrer in Louisville, Georgia. By 1957, with the support of his wife, Mrs. Margurie Williams Kelly, the place became a juke joint nightclub known as Kelly’s Nite Limit. During the Rock ’n Roll Era, with raw intuition, Clifford Kelly Sr, booked and promoted over 125 recording artists to perform at his nightclub.

The first recording artists to perform live at Kelly’s Nite Limit were Larry Birdsong, B.B. King, The Platters, Chuck Willis, Roy Gaines, Dinah Washington, The 5 Royals, The Drifters, and Muddy Waters. By 1964, the venue was expanded to host an audience of 700-1000 people. Tucked within the small rural town of Lawtey, Bradford County, Florida, the business remained open for five decades (1954-2004). His biography is a heartfelt life and times story as revealed by all who knew him well.