R. Kelly

Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967), best known by the stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter, and record producer. Debuting in 1992 with the group Public Announcement, Kelly went solo in 1993 for a successful solo career starting with the album, 12 Play. Kelly is known for a collection of hit singles including "Bump n' Grind", "I Believe I Can Fly", "Gotham City ^{Gotham City (song)} ", "Ignition (Remix) ^{Ignition (song)} ", "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time", "The World's Greatest", and the hip-hopera ^{rap opera} "Trapped in the Closet".

Kelly has also produced and performed in many tracks by other R&B and hip-hop artists. In 1993, Kelly produced and wrote the debut album of late R&B singer Aaliyah and in November 1994, Kelly co-produced and wrote a song You Are Not Alone for Michael Jackson which was later included in Jackson's then-latest album, HIStory. Kelly has sung the hooks for many notable hip-hop songs, such as "***in' You Tonight" by The Notorious B.I.G., "We Thuggin'" by Fat Joe, "Gigolo ^{Gigolo (Nick Cannon song)} " by Nick Cannon, and "Go Getta" by Young Jeezy, and has collaborated for two albums with Jay-Z.

In his personal life, Kelly has had several *** scandals. Reports surfaced that he married the then-teenaged Aaliyah, for whom he was a songwriter. Kelly and Aaliyah annulled their marriage. After a video of a man purported to be him having *** with an underage girl was released, Kelly was indicted on several counts of child ***graphy in 2002. After several delays, his case went to trial in 2008, with the jury ruling Kelly not guilty on all 14 counts.

  Born in the South Side ^{South Side (Chicago)} of Chicago, Illinois, Kelly was the third of four children. Kelly's single mother, Joanne, was a singer and a Baptist. Kelly's father was absent throughout most of Kelly's life. Kelly began singing in church at age eight. Along with Vincent Corey Walker and Shawnth Brooks, Kelly performed on the TV talent show Big Break, hosted by Natalie Cole, and went on to win the $100,000 grand prize.
1993–96: Born into the 90's, 12 Play" and "R. Kelly

Soon after, R. Kelly & MGM released their first single, "Why You Wanna Play Me," on Tavdash Records. Kelly signed to Jive Records in 1991, and Kelly formed another R&B group with friends called Public Announcement. Kelly and Public Announcement released their debut album, Born into the 90's, in early 1992. Released during the new jack swing period of the early nineties, the album yielded the hits "She's Got That Vibe," "Honey Love," "Dedicated," and "Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)," all of which were led by Kelly. During late 1992, Kelly and Public Announcement embarked on a tour called "60653", whose title was the zip code of Kelly's neighborhood. Kelly also produced Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, the 1994 debut album by the then-15-year-old female R&B singer Aaliyah. Kelly's success continued with the release of his third album, R. Kelly ^{R. Kelly (album)} , popular for the singles "You Remind Me of Something", "I Can't Sleep (Baby If I)", and "Down Low", a duet with Ronald Isley. Kelly's self-titled album sold four million copies, thus receiving 4× multi-platinum certification from the RIAA. For the film Batman & Robin, Kelly recorded the top ten single "Gotham City". Kelly also launched a $75 million lawsuit against Jay-Z for removing him from the tour, which received a countersuit by Jay-Z which was thrown out by the judge.


2007–08: Double Up

On May 29, 2007, R Kelly released his eighth studio album Double Up included the hit single "I'm a Flirt (Remix) ^{I'm a Flirt#Remix} ", featuring T.I. and T-Pain. The original track entitled "I'm a Flirt", also produced and co-written by R. Kelly, appeared as a hidden track on Bow Wow's The Price of Fame (2006). However, Kelly never gave the rights for the song to be released as a formal single, although it was played by many radio stations before the remix version. Kelly's first single from 'Double Up' was "I'm a Flirt (Remix)." Bow Wow was not featured on this version of the song. In Kelly's video for "I'm a Flirt (Remix)", he encourages fans to call a number which flashes up quickly on the screen. Fans who called the number were greeted by a recording of Kelly talking about his upcoming album and playing snippets of new songs in the studio. "I'm a Flirt (Remix)" was successful for Kelly. The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks. Another hit on the album, "Same Girl", was a collaboration between Kelly and Usher ^{Usher (entertainer)} . The single peaked at number 20 on the Hot 100 and peaked at number four on the R&B chart. Other singles such as "Rock Star" featuring Ludacris and Kid Rock, "*** Planet" and "Freaky in the Club" were R&B charters, although the latter two were not officially released as singles, nor was the title track featuring Snoop Dogg.

Kelly's other single from Double Up titled "Rise Up" was a tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. The song was officially released as a digital download May 15, 2007. Proceeds were donated to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, a fund that helped family members of the victims of the shootings.

Kelly began his Double Up tour with Ne-Yo, Keyshia Cole and J. Holiday opening for him. After two shows, promoter Leonard Rowe had Ne-Yo removed from the tour because of a contract dispute. However, Ne-Yo alleges that the reason for the dropout was because Ne-Yo believes he received a better response from critics and fans, even though he only performed at two shows. Ne-Yo filed a lawsuit against Rowe Entertainment. It was shown that Kelly was not mentioned in the lawsuit. In December 2007, Kelly was admonisheen.wikipedia.org showing up to another preliminary court hearing on his case due to his tour bus being held up in Utah. The judge threatened to revoke Kelly's bond, but the judge eventually decided not to. In 2008, Kelly released a rap track titled "I'm a Beast" in which he coarsely attacked his detractors, though Kelly himself never mentioned by name who the song was directed to.

In 2008, Billboard reported that Kelly had plans to release his newest album titled 12 Play: Fourth Quarter in the summer of that year but the album was postponed. Billboard also named Kelly among the most successful artists ever for its 50th Anniversary List. In the spring, the first promotional single "Hair Braider", peaked at No. 56 on Billboard's R&B chart. On July 28, the entire album leaked online. The album was then pushed back to be released in the fall. On September 18, Kelly released the video to the second promotional single "Skin". However, the album still has no official release date. Though Kelly has not released an album, he has kept busy in the studio doing featured guest spots on numerous remixes including Lookin Boy remix by Hotstylz, Mariah Carey's Touch My Body remix, a verse for a remix to Kanye West's ^{Kanye West} single Love Lockdown, Raheem DeVaughn's "Customer ^{Customer (song)} " remix, Beyoncé Knowles' If I Were a Boy remix, T-Pain's Chopped and Screwed remix, among others. A recent track was leaked on the internet titled "I Believe". Kelly states on his official myspace page that Obama's election inspired him to write the song, which contains an excerpt from Barack Obama's presidential acceptance speech. This song was available on iTunes as a free download the first week it was released.


Since 2009: Untitled

While at the Velvet Room in Atlanta in February 2009, Kelly announced that he was out there working on the album and that it would be called "Untitled ^{Untitled (R. Kelly album)} ". The album was given a September 29, 2009 release date, but was delayed until October 13, 2009. The album release was again delayed and was released under Jive Records on December 1, 2009.

On June 3, 2009, Kelly released his first ever mixtape "The Demo Tape (Gangsta Grillz) presented by DJ Skee and DJ Drama" as a way to reintroduce himself to fans, start fresh and give his fans something different.

Kelly performed for the first time in Africa headlining the Arise African Fashion Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday, June 20, 2009. Kelly scheduled to perform in Cape Town before heading to Nigeria as part of the annual ThisDay music and fashion festival in July. He also scheduled to perform in London as part of his first international tour in 8 years, but he did not make his London concert. "I'm very excited about my first visit to Africa, I've dreamed about this for a long time and it’s finally here,” Kelly said in a statement. “It will be one of the highlights of not only my career but my life. I can’t wait to perform in front of my fans in Africa – who have been some of the best in the world."
Marriages and children

In 1994, 27 year old Kelly married his protégée, 15 year old R&B singer Aaliyah. He had known Aaliyah since she was 12 and had spent the last three years working on her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing But A Number. The Chicago Sun-Times printed a marriage document showcasing the marriage certificate, and noted that Aaliyah had lied about being eighteen when in truth she was only fifteen. The marriage was annulled in February 1995 and neither singer confirmed the marriage rumors, dismissing them as lies.'Solo Albums'
* 12 Play (1993)
* R. Kelly ^{R. Kelly (album)} (1995)
* R. ^{R. (album)} (1998)
* TP-2.com (2000)
* Chocolate Factory (2003)
* Happy People/U Saved Me (2004)
* TP.3 Reloaded (2005)
* Double Up ^{Double Up (R. Kelly album)} (2007)
* Untitled ^{Untitled (R. Kelly album)} (2009)
* Zodiac (TBA)

'Collaboration Albums'
* Born Into the '90s (w/ Public Announcement) (1992)
* The Best of Both Worlds (w/ Jay-Z) (2002)
* Unfinished Business ^{Unfinished Business (R. Kelly & Jay-Z album)} (w/ Jay-Z) (2004)*2005: Trapped in the Closet (1–12)
*2007: Trapped in the Closet (13–22)
*2007: R. Kelly Live The Light It Up Tour*American Music Award
**2000: Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist
**2005: Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist

*BET Awards
**2003: Best Male R&B Artist

*Billboard Awards
**2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Artist
**2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Album (TP2.com)
**2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Singles & Tracks (“Fiesta”)
**2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Artist –ale
**2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Album Artist
**2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Album Artist –ale

*BMI Awards
**1998: Pop Songwriter of the Year (for “I Believe I can Fly”, “I Can’t Sleep Baby (If I)”, and “I Don’t Want To” (recorded by Toni Braxton)

*Grammy Awards
**1998: Best R&B Song ("I Believe I Can Fly")
**1998: Best R&B Male Vocal Performance ("I Believe I Can Fly")
**1998: Best Original Song from A Soundtrack ("I Believe I Can Fly")

*NAACP Image Awards
**2001: Outstanding Male Artist
**2001: Outstanding Music Video (“I Wish”)

*Soul Train Awards
**1999: Best R&B/Soul Album, Male (R.)
**1999: Sammy Davis Jr. Entertainer of the Year Award
**2000: Best R&B/Soul or Rap Album (R.)
**2001: Best R&B/Soul Single, Male (“I Wish”)
**2001: Best R&B/Soul Album, Male (TP2.com)
**2004: R&B/Soul Album, Male (“Chocolate Factory”)
**2004: Quincy Jones Award for Outstanding Career Achievements
**2006: Stevie Wonder Award for Outstanding Achievements in Song Writing

*Source Hip Hop Awards
**1999: R&B Artist of the Year
**2001: R&B Artist of the Year

*Vibe Awards
** 2003: R&B Vanguard Award