Guitarist Tim Kelly provided Slaughter with blazing lead guitar solos on most of the popular hard-rock albums the band issued in the '90s.

Timothy Patrick Kelly was born Jan. 13, 1963, in Trenton, N.J. He taught himself to play guitar and was in bands before he finished elementary school. His guitar heroes were Rick Derringer and Peter Frampton.

Early in his career, Kelly played in the bands Hellion, New Haven and Allegiance (which included his brother Brian). In 1989 he met Las Vegas-based singer Mark Slaughter and former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Dana Strum of the Vinnie Vincent Invasion, the band formed by former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent. Kelly, Slaughter and Strum started a new group named Slaughter and recruited Blas Elias on drums.

Only a year later Slaughter's music was on MTV and radio thanks to the success of their 1990 multiplatinum debut, Stick It to Ya, featuring the hits "Up All Night" (RealAudio excerpt) and "Fly to the Angels." The LP also included "Thinking of June," an instrumental Kelly wrote about his sister who died of ovarian cancer in 1982.

The band toured extensively throughout the United States supporting Kiss and released a live EP, Stick It Live, featuring the single "Mad About You." They were popular enough in the early '90s to win an American Music Award for Best New Heavy Metal Band.

The Wild Life (1992), featuring "Reach for the Sky," didn't sell as well as Slaughter's debut. The band then had disagreements with its label, Chrysalis, delaying the release of a third LP. In the meantime, Chrysalis issued Mass Slaughter: The Best of Slaughter to relieve the band of its contract.

Around this period, Kelly was arrested on drug charges, for which he eventually had to perform community service and live in a halfway house for six months. The sentence meant he couldn't tour with Slaughter during a European and Canadian outing.

CMC International Records issued Slaughter's third studio effort, Fear No Evil, in 1995. The LP included the singles "Searchin' " and "It'll Be Alright."

To support Revolution (1997), their stab at psychedelic-influenced rock, Slaughter toured with Vince Neil, Alice Cooper, Dokken and Warrant. The album included a cover of Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way." Slaughter then issued Eternal Live, recorded at Mexico and Las Vegas shows.

As the group was preparing the live album, Kelly died on Feb. 5, 1998, after his car was in a head-on collision with an tractor-trailer truck near Baghdad, Ariz. Kelly was transported to a clinic, where he died of massive head injuries.

Slaughter decided to continue without Kelly, choosing Jeff Blando as his replacement. They dedicated Eternal Live to Kelly.

"The things that we've gone through together over the last almost 10 years created a bond between the four of us that is beyond description," Elias said of Kelly on the band's website (www.slaughterweb.com). "[Kelly] was and always will be a part of me."

Last year Slaughter issued Back to Reality, including "Love is Forever."

Other birthdays Thursday: Cornelius Bumpus (Doobie Brothers), 48; Trevor Rabin (Yes), 46; Fred White (ex-Earth, Wind and Fire), 45; Graham "Suggs" McPherson (Madness), 39; and Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), 38.