[1] He first came to prominence as lead singer and songwriter with The Fat Lady Sings and has subsequently recorded and released music as an independent solo artist under his own name and as Alien Envoy, and in various collaborations including most recently with Seán Millar as Dogs.

[6] Following his decision to split The Fat Lady Sings and move back from London where the band had been based to his native Dublin, Kelly released his debut solo album Between Trapezes independently on his own Self Possessed Records label, having funded the pressing with contributions from 300 fans.

[11] In 2013 Kelly collaborated with Joe Chester, Julie Feeney and Seán Millar, performing together for a short series of live dates in Dublin, Dundalk and Cork as The Peripheral Visionaries.

For one of the singles taken off the album Resolution Kelly wrote and directed a video featuring an array of well-known figures, including Tom Dunne, Panti Bliss, Cait O'Riordan, David McWilliams, Mario Rosenstock, Peter Coonan, Pat Kinevane and Steve Wall.

[14] In 2018, Kelly formed The Unelectables a supergroup of "former future rock stars" with Seán Millar (The Cute Hoors), Paul Byrne (In Tua Nua), Leslie Keye (The Wilde Oscars) and solo artist and arranger Darragh O'Toole.

[20] In 2022, Nick Kelly and Sean Millar formed a new collaboration called Dogs and in late 2024 they released their debut album Joy on Scottish label Last Night From Glasgow.

[36] During this time he wrote campaigns for the Hibernian Insurance, the Irish Independent, Aer Lingus, the Telecom Eireann IPO, Walkers Crisps, and most notably Guinness for whom he created a number of Masterbrand TV spots including the Clio Award winning Tom Crean and Quarrel which featured a young Michael Fassbender.

[37] Since 2003 he has worked as a freelance creative, writing and directing campaigns for clients including AIB, Bord Gais Networks, the Simon Communities, the Irish Film Archive (featuring Saoirse Ronan), Barry's Tea, Newstalk, Yuno Energy and Clonakilty Black Pudding.

[39] In the 1980s Kelly contributed music reviews and features to various Irish and UK publications, including Smash Hits, NME, Hot Press and In Dublin Magazine.