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R. Kelly

Biography

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Overview

Born January 8, 1967 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

Birth name Robert Sylvester Kelly

Nicknames
The Pied Piper Kells Pied Piper of R&B
Daddy

Height 6′ 1″ (1.85 m)

Mini Bio

R. Kelly was born on the south side of

Chicago, Illinois, and attended Kenwood
Academy High School, where his music
teacher-mentor Lena McLin inspired him to
become a singer. He used to sing on street
corners. He started off his career with a
group by the name of Public Announcement.
R. Kelly a master producer, composer, and
performer and is often associated with
music that can be described as spiritually
inspirational and extremely sexual. R. Kelly
won acclaim with his production of the late
Aaliyah's debut album, "Age Ain't Nothin but a
Number." Aaliyah, then 15, soon found
herself with a hit album and fending off
rumors of an alleged nuptial to Kelly who
was then in his mid-20s. Their marriage was
annulled shortly afterward, and all ties
between Aaliyah and Kelly were severed.
Kelly went on to produce several more smash
hit albums and songs for soundtracks, such
as "I Believe I Can Fly" from Space Jam
(1996); "World's Greatest" for the 1996
summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia; and a
duet with French-Canadian pop diva Céline
Dion, which catapulted him to more success.
Kelly soon married Andrea Lee, who was a
former back-up dancer, and had two
daughters and one son.

R. Kelly, at the pinnacle of his success,

decided to team up with another music
industry leader, the hip-hop MC Jay-Z, after
great commercial successes on other
collaborations with tracks such as Jay-Z's
"Not Guilty" and Kelly's "Fiesta Remix." In
2001 to do an entire album together. Slated
to be a guaranteed success, "The Best of
Both Worlds" was the most highest
anticipated album for 2002. Shortly after that
year began began, and right before the
release of "Best of Both Worlds," an alleged
videotape of Kelly with a 14-year-old girl
surfaced on the Internet and the streets of
major cities.

Allegedly, Kelly was involved in sexual

intercourse with a minor on the tape
submitted to Chicago Police by former
protégé, R&B singer Sparkle. Sparkle claimed
the girl was her niece and the God-daughter
of R. Kelly's wife. This opened up an avenue
of backlash from radio stations and fans
across the USA, who refused to continue to
play, buy, or support R. Kelly's music. "Best of
Both Worlds" was a commercial failure in
comparison to its previous rumors of certain
success. Jay-Z refused to comment or
release a video for their record, and he also
thought it would be better for Kelly to take
time to sort out his problems. In a May 2002
BET News interview with Ed Gordon, R. Kelly
denied the allegations vehemently, stating he
would not watch the videotape; he declined
to comment on his relationship with Aaliyah.
He also stated that he had been receiving
help for his "problem" from the Chicago
reverend James Meeks, and he wasn't the
monster that the public was making him out
to be.

On June 5th, 2002, rumors surfaced that

Kelly would be indicted on 21 counts of child
pornography. After an alleged agreement
between Kelly's attorneys and the Chicago
Police for Kelly to be able to turn himself in,
a fugitive warrant was issued for his arrest in
Florida, and R. Kelly was arrested and was
extradited to Chicago. Even though the
attorney for the four women who were suing
R. Kelly--one a former back-up dancer who
also appeared on the scandalous videotape
(who was an adult during the making of the
tape)--stated that she thought that due to the
weak legal system, Kelly would not be
convicted but did hope he got some help.
Kelly could have faced up to 15 years in
prison and be forced to pay a fine of
US$100.000, register as a sexual offender,
and pay millions more in damages. Kelly
reportedly stated that he had faith in the
justice system and was happy to finally get a
chance to defend himself in court. Kelly was
eventually acquitted.

In 2003, Kelly released the song "Snake,"

from the successful album "Chocolate
Factory," which became the basis for the
reggae riddim called "Baghdad." 2004, Kelly
once again teamed up with Jay-Z for the
album "Unfinished Business." Like their
previous album recorded together, this one
also flopped. In 2005, however, Kelly
released the album "TP.3," which included the
first five chapters of an extended song called
Trapped in the Closet: Chapters 1-12 (2005).
A strange, bold, and daring experiment in a
sort-of R&B aria-meets-soap-opera, an
unintended homage to and heavily influenced
by The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), the
entire saga, which has no end in sight but
currently has twelve released chapters--and
supposedly as many as 34 chapters have
been recorded, might be one of the most
unusual experiments in pop music of the
decade, further testament to Kelly's
undeniable talent.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Family

Spouses
Andrea Kelly (1996 - January 2009)
(divorced, 3 children)
Aaliyah (August 30, 1994 - February 7, 1995)
(annulled)

Children
Jay Kelly
Robert Kelly Jr.
Joann Kelly

Trademarks

Frequently wears a Zorro mask

French braids

Trivia

Was married to R&B Singer/actress Aaliyah.

That marrige was annulled due to Aaliyah's
status as a minor (she was 15 years old,; he
was in his mid 20s).

R.Kelly out on $750,000 bail after being

charged with 21 counts of producing child
pornography.

Ironically, he suffers from fear of flying.

Had the most top ten singles in America

during the 90's.

In 1994, Kelly, then 27, secretly married 15-

year-old Aaliyah using a falsified marriage
certificate in which she lied about being 18
years old.

16 more

Quotes

People can say whatever they want about

you without knowing the facts. They can
criticize you without even knowing you, and
hate you when they don't even know you. All
of a sudden, you're, like, the bin Laden of
America. Osama bin Laden is the only one
who knows exactly what I'm going through.
Interview with Blender Magazine, September
2003.

You're younger, you might want to go to clubs

and kick it, but as you get older, you start
seeing that life has more meaning to it. The
people that you love are the people you want
to start trusting and start wanting them to
trust you and start respecting them.

My greatest competition is, well, me.

Well, I believe that the depth of your struggle

can determine the height of your success. I
was inspired to come out of everything I've
been through and end up in a place where I
never thought that I would be.

In life, you have people that love to party.

That's me. People that love God. That's me.
People that love sex. That's me. People that
love people. That's me. And people that
make mistakes.That's me also.

42 more

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