A talented R&B powerhouse in the early 1990's, R. Kelly has been known more recently for the scandal surrounding him than he has been for his music. Over his career he has been involved in several sex tape lawsuits, many with under-aged minors, has made extremely arrogant statements about his talent for music (once comparing himself to Muhammad Ali, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, and Martin Luther King Jr.), and has been involved in numerous other lawsuits and disputes. Known for his cocky attitude and hits such as "Bump and Grind", "I Believe I Can Fly", and "Trapped in the Closet", R. Kelly is one of the most interesting R&B artists to date.
Robert Sylvester Kelly was born January 8th, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. His mother's name was Joann Kelly, and he lived with her and his two siblings. Kelly claims to have been sexually abused by an older male when he was young, and tells a story about being shot by a robber when he was thirteen, though his mother said that it was a suicide attempt. He also claims to have exhibited early musical talent in High School, where a music teacher supposedly told him that he would, "be a star and work with artists like Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder" (Wikipedia). He eventually dropped out of high school and became a street performer, before forming the group "MGM" with his friend Marc McWilliams in 1989. Their first single, "Why You Wanna Play Me" was released on Tavdash records, and they changed their name to "Public Announcement" shortly afterwords. They signed with Jive Records in 1991 and their debut album, "Born into the '90s" was released in 1992. Hit singles included, "She's Got That Vibe", "Honey Love", and "Dedicated". With Kelly performing lead vocals, the group was often billed as "R. Kelly and Public Announcement". Kelly eventually left the group after touring in 1993 to pursue a solo career.
Kelly's first solo album, "12 Play" was released in 1993, and featured his first number one hit, "Bump N' Grind". Kelly also began producing, and worked with up and coming artists such as Aaliyah and Changing Faces. In 1994, Kelly married his first wife, fifteen year old Aaliyah, who had lied and claimed to be eighteen at the time. The marriage was annulled, though Kelly claims that it never happened. This, however, was not Kelly's first tangle with an under-aged girl; allegations go back as far as 1991. Two sex suits by underage girls were settled out of court, and another woman sued him for supposedly getting her pregnant and forcing her to get an abortion at sixteen.
He produced a remix for Janet Jackson's "Any Time, Any Place" in 1994, and worked with Michael Jackson on the song "You are Not Alone" for Jackson's album "HIStory" in 1995. Controversy was raised around Kelly when a Belgium right society determined that Kelly had in fact plagiarized the melody for the song from artists Eddy and Danny Van Passel. He pushed on, however, and soon released his second solo album, "R.Kelly". It included the singles "You Remind Me of Something", "I Can't Sleep (Baby If I)", and "Down Low". His biggest hit, however, was to come with the release of the film "Space Jam" in 1996. The soundtrack included Kelly's song, "I Believe I Can Fly", which he write while touring with the Notorious B.I.G. It reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, and remains the song that Kelly is most known for today. Soon afterwords he released his third album, entitled "R". He sold nearly eight million copies, and hits included "I'm Your Angel" (with Celine Dion) and "When a Woman's Fed Up". Kelly also turned to writing and recording movie themes around this time, including "Gotham City" from Batman Forever, "The World's Greatest" from Ali, and "Bad Man" from Shaft. He married his second wife, dancer Andrea Lee, in 1996 and they had three children together. The two are currently in the middle of a divorce.
The new millennium gave the world a new R-Kelly album as well; he released "TP-2.com" in 2000. He began a partnership with the artist Jay-Z around this time, and the two collaborated on Kelly's track "Fiesta" and Jay-Z's track "Guilty Til Proven Innocent". They decided to do a joint album and tour together called, "The Best of Both Worlds", which released in 2002. However, controversy would once more surround Kelly, causing him to focus hardly any time promoting the album. Early the same year, a sex tape was released which showed Kelly having sex with a fourteen year old girl. Both Kelly and the girl have denied that they are the people in the video, which shows the girl being urinated on at one point. The tape spread across the internet, and Kelly was indicted in Chicago for 21 counts of sex with a minor, which were reduced to soliciting a minor for child pornography, seven counts of videotaping the acts, and seven counts of producing child pornography.
"Chocolate Factory" was to be Kelly's next album in 2003, and it sold three million copies world-wide. It featured hit singles including "Ignition", "Snake", and "Step in the Name of Love". That year he faced even more legal trouble; in Florida he was considered for charges on twelve counts of possession of child pornography when a digital camera was found with pictures of Kelly engaging in intercourse with under-aged girls. He was cleared of the charges when the search that found the photos was deemed illegal. In 2004, he followed "Chocolate Factory" with his two disk set, "Happy People/U Saved Me". He reunited with Jay-Z to do another album later that year, and "Unfinished Business" did much better than the first one they released together. "TP-3: Reloaded" was released in 2005, and it included the "hip-hopera", "Trapped in the Closet". Kelly claimed that the five-part "opera" was inspired by Desperate Housewives, and Kelly went on to produce twenty-two chapters of his saga, which were released to DVD. It became a huge part of pop-culture, and was mocked on Saturday Night Live, MADTV, and most famously, South Park.
Kelly's eight album was released in 2007, entitled "Double Up". Due to the success of the single, "I'm a Flirt (remix)", the album did much better than its predecessor had. It also featured the hits "Same Girl" (with Usher), "Rock Star" (with Ludacris and Kid Rock), "Sex Planet", "Freaky in the Club", and "Rise Up". The latter was a tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre, with all proceeds donated to a memorial fund. Kelly's trial for the sex tapes with the fourteen year old was also set for 2007, but it was postponed as Kelly's lawyer claimed that the singer's appendix had burst and he could not appear in court. It was postponed once more, and jury selection finally began earlier this month. Kelly is set to release his ninth album, "12 Play: Fourth Quarter", which will feature the hit "Hair Braider", later this summer.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Kelly