Ken Kelly (1946-2022)
Artist Ken Kelly, 76, died June 3, 2022. While best known for his album art (including famous covers for rock band Kiss), Kelly was also a prolific SF/F artist who did work for numerous publishers starting in the ’70s.
Kenneth William Kelly was born May 19, 1946 in New London CO. He served in the Marines until 1968, and soon after became a professional artist. He got his start doing covers for comics and magazines, notably Creepy and Famous Monsters of Filmland. In the ’70s he began creating artwork for musical albums and book covers for Ace, DAW, Berkley, and other genre publishers. He also did collectible trading card art and product art for toys.
Some of his work is collected in The Art of Ken Kelly (1990), Ken Kelly Fantasy Art Trading Cards (1992), Ken Kelly Fantasy Art Trading Cards Collection 2 (1994), Ken Kelly Colossal Cards (1995), and Escape (2004).
