Emma Kelly, the pianist and singer made famous as the ''Lady of 6,000 Songs'' by the book ''Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,'' died on Jan. 17 in Savannah. She was 82.

The cause was a liver ailment, said her son Bill, one of her 10 children.

Ms. Kelly's nightclub act, in which she used her vast repertory of American popular standards five nights a week until she became ill a month ago, was a must-see for Savannah tourists itching to meet a real-life character from the Southern Gothic best seller by John Berendt.

Though the book helped her to get performance bookings as far away as New York and Switzerland, she continued to crisscross south Georgia to play church socials and high school graduations, Kiwanis luncheons and wedding receptions. Mr. Berendt devoted an entire chapter to Ms. Kelly in the 1994 book, describing her as a teetotaling Baptist who would play smoky cocktail lounges on Saturday night and children's Sunday school classes the next morning.

Ms. Kelly independently recorded three albums, the last of which will be released posthumously, her son said.