User:Howajosh/sandbox

Stephen Kelly(musician)
Stephen Kelly(born January 29th 1991) is a musician from South Plainfield, NJ. He attended South Plainfield High School where he also excelled in soccer, earning the starting goalkeeper spot his freshman year and keeping it all the way until his last game. He gained national recognition when he also became the starting goalkeeper for Match Fit Chelsea F.C. He is currently the lead singer/guitarist for the band The Battle Begun as well as maintaining a very successful solo career.

Early Music Career
Stephen first became involved with music as a joke. Always being known as the soccer guy, Stephen thought he would try his hand in music. He began playing guitar and writing his own songs, but never shared these songs with anyone. One day as a joke he offered to sing for a local band in South Plainfield, called The Battle Begun. Now having a complete line-up, the band started playing shows quite frequently throughout the tri-state area, while building a very strong fan-base along the way. After the band released their self-titled debut album in 2010, the lead guitarist and main song writer, Jimmy Bijlani, left the band due to other obligations. This was the first time song writing duties were up to Stephen.

The Battle Begun
The band began in a jam session with bassist Mike Bateman and ex-guitarist Jimmy Bijlani. After playing a couple songs, Mike and Jimmy decided to make a band. With that, drummer Josh Howard joined the next week. From there, the band threw some names around and played a few local shows until Steve Kelly came on as vocalist. After a few demos, the band went into the studio to record the first e.p. dubbed the “Matrea E.P.” with producer Ken Abel. When the e.p. dropped and earned some moderate success, the band made a self-titled album with Abel as producer and played many shows at various locations throughout their home state of New Jersey to support the record. Months down the road, the band began to write more music that needed a space filled. To bridge the musical gap, keyboardist and good friend Jason Fandino joined on the keys.

Shapes Like Faces(2011)
In summer of 2011, Jimmy decided to peacefully part ways with the band, with Steve stepping up to handle both guitar and vocal duties. The Battle Begun showed no signs of slowing down and instantly hit the studio at their newfound home, Soundwaves Studios in Union, New Jersey to record an e.p. that would come to be known as the “Shapes like Faces e.p.”; produced by Joe Stasio and Ryan Egan of the Ugly Club and mixed by Thomas Stratton of Socratic.