Some people walk into a tattoo shop on a whim. Others carry a story inked deep in their bones long before the needle ever touches their skin. Kellye? She’s a little of both.
She grew up just outside Toronto, Canada, where tattoos weren’t exactly her thing—at least not at first.
“I hated tattoos. My dad had them. When my friends used to come to my house, I’d make him cover his tattoos.”
But life has a funny way of shifting your perspective. At 30, fresh off the end of her first marriage, Kellye found herself doing something she never thought she would—getting her first tattoo.
“I had a friend visiting from Alberta, and we all decided to go get tattoos. Mine was on my foot. Crazy, I know.”
Her first time in the chair was rough.
“The guy who was outlining my tattoo said, ‘You want a break?’ I told him, ‘If I get out of this chair, I’m never getting back in it.’ He said, ‘Okay, well I need a smoke break.’ I ended up getting back in the chair and said, ‘I’m never doing this again.’ He told me, ‘I bet if I meet you in five years, you’ll have more than one.’ I said, ‘I bet you I won’t.’”
She now has nine.
“All my tattoos mean something to me. I always thought—if I died or got murdered—the coroner would know everything I loved from the tattoos on my body.”
And she means it. From a John Bon Jovi signature to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway logo on her leg, Kellye’s ink tells her story.
“I used to work for a race team. I knew Mrs. Holman, and I told her my ashes were going over the Speedway. She said, ‘That’s fine, Kellye. I’ll be dead.’”
She laughs telling it—one of those full, unapologetic laughs that let you know she’s real. So how did Kellye end up at Hart & Huntington Nashville? Her daughter.
“She’s a huge Pink fan, just like me. She said, ‘Mom, we have to go to H&H.’ We’d been to Nashville the year before but couldn’t get an appointment. This time, we planned ahead.”
They booked with Mat Moreno and both got matching tattoos—a line from a Morgan Wallen song. Her daughter chose the exact lettering from the album. Kellye wanted something different—same message, new style.
“I wasn’t sure I wanted that exact lettering. So Mat helped me come up with something different. On the fly. He was great.”
It was more than just the ink that left a mark. It was the whole experience.
“The shop was clean, everyone was friendly. I loved it. I’m coming back to finish a piece on my back—keys for my grandkids inside a heart-shaped lock.”
If you’ve ever been to Nashville, you’ll get it. Kellye and her daughter go once or twice a year. They soak up the music, the food, the vibe—and now, the ink.
When she looks at her new tattoo, it’s more than just a design.
“It reminds me of my daughter. Of a great time in Nashville. And it reminds me—I'm a little crazy. The world’s insane.”
We’ll take Kellye’s kind of crazy any day.
