Because of the difficult circumstances between his biological parents, Kelly was legally adopted at the age of 5 by his aunt and uncle, moving to Nashville, Tennessee, and then Sonestown, Pennsylvania.

[2] He has sung professionally since the age of 9, performing at festivals and fairs and opening for such acts as Charlie Daniels, Loretta Lynn, Emerson Drive, Bill Anderson and The Marshall Tucker Band.

[4] Kelly lists his hobbies as soccer and photography and his musical influences as Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood and Celine Dion.

At the end of the day he was the highest vote recipient in the finale show, which entitled him to receive the dream ticket, which got him to the front of the line for the real American Idol auditions in Orlando in June 2009.

Although he was close to everybody, he was especially good friends with Katie Stevens, Siobhan Magnus, Alex Lambert, Tim Urban, Andrew Garcia, and Lee DeWyze.