Copyright 2002 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.Chicago Sun-TimesJune 9, 2002 Sunday
HEADLINE:
Inspirational singer or perverted swinger?
BYLINE:
Jim DeRogatis; Abdon M. Pallasch
HIGHLIGHT:
Discovered at a barbecue, he hit it big; but some saw dark cloud over R. Kelly
BODY:
Who is the real R. Kelly?Is the R&B superstar the inspiring gospel preacher behind uplifting anthems such as "I Believe I Can Fly," "IWish," and "The World's Greatest"?Or is the South Sider the self-professed "sexual super freak" of raunchy bedroom shakers like "Bump N' Grind," "ILike the Crotch on You," and "Feelin' On Yo Booty"?The answer is that 35-year-old Robert Sylvester Kelly is both, as well as a private, tormented individual who has been urged repeatedly over the last decade by friends and associates to seek help for what they call a "compulsion" to pursue underage girls, these sources have told the Sun-Times.Since launching his career in 1992, Kelly has sold more than 23 million albums. If not a household name, he hasnonetheless been hailed as the most important R&B singer, producer and songwriter of his generation--a familiar icondressed in foreboding black leather and shades or a resplendent white suit with bowler hat and cane.Last week, fans saw the 6-foot-3 Kelly looking small in a prison-issue orange jumpsuit, holding back tears as heappeared before a judge to pay the $750,000 bail that was set after he was indicted Wednesday on 21 counts of child pornography.Law enforcement officials said the investigation is ongoing and more charges may follow. The Illinois Departmentof Children and Family Services also has launched a probe into the family of the girl in the alleged child-porn tape.Whatever the coming weeks bring, one thing is certain: The sexual super freak and the gospel preacher haveexperienced a tragic fall from grace.'I knew I had something'The third of four children, Kelly was born in the South on Jan. 8, 1967. His family moved to Chicago when he wasa toddler. His mother, Joann, was a teacher and a devout Baptist. Little is known about his father, who was missingthrough most of his youth.The family lived for a time in the projects on 63rd Street, and later in a small house at 107th and Parnell. Kellywould return to this home some 25 years later, using the front porch as the setting in the video for "I Wish."A shy, introspective and somewhat effeminate boy, Kelly often turned to his mother for protection when his two brothers teased and picked on him. He told Vibe magazine that he enjoyed eavesdropping on his mother, aunt and sister as they gossiped at the kitchen table as much as he enjoyed playing basketball with his brothers on the playground.Former associates and family members say that he was abused as a child by an older man in the neighborhood, andthis pushed his withdrawal from his male peers.Kelly has often told the press that he was shot at age 13 when some thugs tried to steal his Huffy bicycle. But his
mother told a former associate on her deathbed that her son had in fact invented the story to cover a suicide attempt. Hereportedly still carries the bullet in his shoulder.Music entered Kelly's life through his mother, who introduced him to the albums of her favorite soul singer, DonnyHathaway. "He had a sexual texture in his voice that I always wanted in mine," Kelly told the Sun-Times' DaveHoekstra in 1994. "He had smooth, soulful tones, but he was spiritual at the same time."In 1979, Hathaway committed suicide at age 33 by jumping off the 15th floor of the Essex House Hotel in NewYork. "I cried like a baby when I found out he passed away," Kelly said.Aware of his sensitive nature, Joann worked hard to win Robert admittance to Hyde Park's prestigious KenwoodAcademy. As a freshman there, he met the second woman who would became a major influence in his life, musicteacher Lena McLin. The niece of gospel great Thomas A. Dorsey, McLin's other celebrated pupils include Chaka Khanand Da Brat.McLin taught her students bel canto, a style of operatic singing that stresses vocal precision and evenness of tone.In the second week, she called on Kelly to sing at the front of the class. He did so reluctantly, but she recognized histalent instantly. "If they were ashamed of themselves, I'd make them stand in front of the mirror," she told Vibe. "I askedthem, 'Do you think God made a mistake? He could've made you a roach!' "McLin talked Kelly into wearing dark glasses and singing Stevie Wonder's 1982 hit "Ribbon in the Sky" at a highschool talent show."That night it was like Spider-Man being bit," Kelly told Hoekstra. "I discovered this power. I knew I hadsomething then."'The eye of the tiger'Kelly got poor grades at Kenwood, and he never graduated. Friends and former associates say he can barely read or do basic math, and he is extremely insecure about these shortcomings. But his innate musical talents provided the routeout of poverty.Accompanying himself on a portable Casio keyboard, Kelly performed for spare change on L platforms. One dayhe collected $400. He was singing at a backyard barbecue in Pill Hill when he was discovered by Wayne Williams, whoran the Midwest regional office of Jive Records."I was inside the house and Robert was performing outside," Williams recalled. "I saw this guy who had all thesteps down, real choreographed. You could tell he put a lot into it, which is something you usually don't see, especiallyat a backyard barbecue. It was the eye of the tiger."Kelly already had a manager, Eric Payton, but it was time for more powerful representation. Payton was bought out by Barry Hankerson, a major player in the black music world who has been married to Gladys Knight, produced showson Broadway and continues to manage Toni Braxton, among others.After revelations about the videotape prosecutors call child porn, Kelly said that "former managers" were trying toruin him with damaging revelations. He refused to name his alleged enemies, saying that his lawyers have advisedagainst it. Both Payton and Hankerson declined to be interviewed for this story.In 1991, Kelly struck a deal with Jive, the label that would become home to 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys andBritney Spears. At the time, new jack swing and vocal groups such as Boyz II Men still ruled the R&B world, and it wasdecided that Kelly should be introduced to the public as part of a band.His first album, "Born into the '90s," was credited to R. Kelly and Public Announcement--though he was front andcenter in the photos, produced the disc and took credit for all the lead vocals. By January 1993, a year after its release,the disc had sold a million copies."I thank my mother for her guidance and for being there for me through the good times and the bad," Kelly wrote inthe liner notes. He also thanked "my music teacher and pastor," McLin, though he misspelled her name.Kelly split from Public Announcement a short time later, and it was with his first solo album in November 1993that he broke wide open. Propelled by the down and dirty single "Bump N' Grind," "12 Play" sold more than fivemillion copies.
R. Kelly had arrived, but even before he officially became a millionaire, he was allegedly abusing the privileges of fame.Chicagoan Tiffany Hawkins said in a lawsuit that she began having sex with Kelly in 1991, when she was 15,sometimes as part of group scenes involving other minors. The terms of the settlement forbid Hawkins from talking, buta friend who says she participated in group sex with Kelly and Hawkins when she was 16 (and who was prepared totestify about this at trial) said the star met the two girls for the first time when he returned to Kenwood to speak toMcLin's choir class.Sources say teachers at Kenwood warned students that Kelly often returned to "cruise" young girls. Asked about theHawkins lawsuit in December 2000, McLin said, "I don't know what he did outside of school. But in the school, therewas no hanky panky. If they were involved in that, the sad thing is, it takes two to tango."Kelly's relationship with Hawkins ended in 1994, when she turned 18, according to her suit. She charged that Kellyhad promised to help her career as a singer, and he never did. The split left her so devastated that she attempted suicide,she said.Hawkins filed her suit on Christmas Eve 1996. Her attorney, Susan Loggans, had warned Kelly the suit wascoming. In a preemptive strike, Kelly sued Hawkins first, charging that she was trying to blackmail him on paternitycharges. No evidence was ever presented for that claim. Hawkins' court papers never mentioned a paternity charge, andKelly's claim was eventually dismissed. But Kelly's publicist leaked his side of the story to gossip columnists at theSun-Times and the New York Daily News.Hawkins was effectively discredited as a gold digger, and the damning allegations in her lawsuit were never reported anywhere in the press until a December 2000 story in the Sun-Times.In 1996, a Kelly spokesman told the Daily News that the star would fight Hawkins' suit. "Many celebrities areconstantly being harassed and sued, and more often than not, they decide to settle," he said. "Kelly has decided, 'Noway.' "But sources say Kelly reconsidered that hard-line position and paid Hawkins a quarter of a million dollars Jan. 23,1998, just four days after she gave a 71/2-hour deposition about the singer's sexual proclivities. A party privy to thatdeposition (which has been sealed by the court) said the charges were "hair-raising.""It all started to go wrong for Robert with that Hawkins case," said a friend of Hawkins' who worked as one of Kelly's dancers. "The brother's got problems, and he should have learned from [the Hawkins case] and got help for them."'Nothing but a number'Kelly met Aaliyah D. Haughton, a talented Detroit native and Hankerson's niece, when she was 12. In June 1994,when she was 15, she released her multiplatinum debut, which had been produced by Kelly.In the title track, which Kelly wrote, Aaliyah sang, "Age ain't nothing but a number/Throwing down ain't nothing but a thang/This something I have for you, it'll never change."Sources say that Kelly and Aaliyah had been having an intimate relationship for several months at that point, andthat after his mother and McLin, Aaliyah was the only woman he has ever truly loved. "If he never loved anybody, heloved her," a former associate said. "If nothing else was genuine about him, his love for that young lady was, and I don'tthink her age had anything to do with it."In a December 1994 interview, Aaliyah told the Sun-Times she never had a romantic relationship with Kelly. Kellyhas always avoided discussing Aaliyah, but in December 2000, his spokeswoman, Regina Daniels, said, "Rob did dateAaliyah, yes he did, and he did have a relationship with Aaliyah, yes he did, and past that, unfortunately, it didn't work out."On Aug. 31, 1994, Kelly surprised Aaliyah by taking her to a room at the Sheraton Gateway Suites in Rosemont.Waiting there were a minister, the Rev. Nathan J. Edmond, and a falsified marriage certificate listing Aaliyah's age as18. It had been secured with fake I.D. by one of Kelly's assistants, sources said. Kelly was 27.Edmond has refused to speak about that day, but a certificate on file with the Cook County clerk says that he
