R. KELLY BIOGRAPHY

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R. Kelly

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R. Kelly Biography

Robert Sylvester Kelly, with the stage name R. Kelly, has been riding high in his career as a R&B singer-songwriter and record producer. Born on January 8, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois, he has been a dominant figure in the R&B music scene ever since 1990s. His popular numbers includes "Bump & Grind" of 1994, "I Believe I Can Fly" of 1996, "Ignition" of 2003 and "Trapped in the Closet" of 2005.

Young Robert�s life along with his two brothers, sister and mother Joanne was steeped in poverty, struggle and depression. Hailing in the housing projects on Chicago's Southside, Kelly surmounted negative pressures of his surroundings and showed his interest in basketball and music. Egged on by his teacher Lena McLin, Kelly made music his prime vocation.

By 1990, Kelly had started playing his keyboards and become a street performer. A young musical executive, Wayne Williams, met him and got him sign his record label, Jive Records, in the yearend. Soon, Kelly formed the group Public Announcement, and in the end of 1991, recorded Born Into the '90s at a recording studio Kelly had leased.

By 1993, Kelly was self-reliant and independent, able to stand on his own two feet. Release of �12 Play�, Kelly�s sophomore album in the fall of 1993, fully took Kelly's career into several heights of glory. It gave the smashes such as "Sex Me", "Your Body's Calling" and "Bump & Grind". By 1994 his reputation had grown so big that he started producing for other acts and singers like Aaliyah.

Kelly and Aaliyah allegedly entered into wedlock in 1994. Kelly was 27 and Aaliyah was only 15, then. The marriage was quickly declared invalid and Aaliyah who left him to pursue his career was ill fated to die in a plane crash on August 25, 2001. However, later Kelly admitted that he had married Aaliyah.

Kelly returned to his self-owned studio (which he had once leased) to record his self-titled third album (his second solo effort). The release came in 1995, which was a big success. That album was lauded by some as the one in which Kelly showed his greatest professional maturity. Before that time, in the light of 12 Play�s lyrics, Kelly had been condemned as a sexual deviant writer. In 1995, Kelly got a boost to his songwriting career by inditing hits for Changing Faces (a R&B group), and pop legends Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson.

In 1996, came the release of Kelly�s most successful single till then "I Believe I Can Fly�. It had the theme song from the Michael Jordan movie, Space Jam. Besides winning three Grammy Awards including Best R&B Song, Kelly was nominated in the Song of the Year and Record of the Year categories for that song. Kelly took two-year break and returned with the ambitious double concept album, R.

In 2000, Kelly came up with his lover man image through his album, TP-2.com, which was also a sequel to his 1993 raunchy masterpiece namely 12 Play. Ironically the biggest singles in the album did not flaunt his sexual prowess but could be seen as a dedication to his loved ones. Now, he was also popular for his hooks on other artists' singles.

Kelly's alleged sexual rapport with underage girls has been a persistent issue that has dogged him even, way back from 1991. The issue that has overridden the others happened in February 2002 when a bootlegged, videotape that had scenes of Kelley allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old daughter of an associate, was released by an unknown source.

However the controversies didn�t stop him from releasing his albums. Chocolate Factory was cut in 2003, and in 2004 occurred the two-sided double-album named Happy People/U Saved. Kelly collaborated with Jay-Z and followed up their 2002 album, The Best of Both Worlds, with Unfinished Business in October 2004. In April 2005 Kelly released the much-awaited "In The Kitchen", which was left a buzz single. Weeks later what entailed was the single, "Trapped In The Closet" saga, which was quick to climb charts and come down.