“Today I’m knocking everything out,” says Joey Kelly in the conversation with moderator Max Schradin Podcast “Des Isses!” . And further: “It’s all out of date anyway and I was still little: we had a black account in Switzerland. This has never been told before.”

According to him, in its early phase of success, the family not only had high cash income but also had an unofficial account in Switzerland.

“Kelly Family” hoarded millions in coins on the houseboat

Before their big commercial breakthrough came, the family performed on the street for years. In the first ten years, income was low, Kelly reported. However, in the last few years before the breakthrough, the situation changed significantly.

He named specific daily sales: On rainy days they earned between 3,000 and 5,000 D-Marks, and on busy Saturdays between 20,000 and 30,000 D-Marks. In addition to street music, the band sold cassettes, LPs and CDs. Annual sales of up to 1.4 million German marks were achieved.

A significant portion of the revenue consisted of cash. “We had over a million marks just in coins,” Kelly said. The money was initially stored on the houseboat on which the family lived in Cologne. An empty water tank served as a storage place for stacked coins. He himself regularly brought the coins to the bank and used carrying them as daily training.

Joey Kelly talks about 120 million marks in annual sales

With the album “Over the Hump!” the band finally reached its commercial peak. According to Kelly, 3.5 million copies were sold in Germany. He spoke of annual sales of 120 million marks in the most successful phase.

Private jets and high expenses

Significant sums were spent in the 1990s. “You ordered a private jet for six or eight people. And in the end only two people flew with it. The thing cost 30,000, 40,000 German marks. So really: money burned endlessly,” said Kelly.

Joey Kelly successful as an extreme athlete

After his big time with the “Kelly Family”, Joey Kelly has established himself primarily as an extreme athlete. He has been taking part in ultramarathons, desert runs, Ironman competitions and TV adventure formats for many years and consistently tests physical and mental limits.

At the same time, he is active as an entrepreneur and motivational speaker, appears on talk shows and documentaries and talks about his childhood in the band, his enormous success in the 90s and the family’s financial ups and downs.

During the Kelly era he was not only a musician, but also a tour manager and later managing director of the family-owned company Kel-Life GmbH; This role and the handling of money are still the same today Joey Kelly’s subject in interviews and podcasts