Jump to content

R. Kelly

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by YeSioTR (talk | contribs) at 19:15, 9 May 2007 (pl:R. Kelly). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Infobox musical artist 2

Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1969 in Chicago) is a multiple Grammy Award winning American Urban R&B singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first appeared in the music scene as the founder and lead singer of Public Announcement whose smooth mixture of hip-hop beats, soul, and funk propelled the group's 1992 debut album Born Into the '90s to platinum status. Upon R. Kelly's departure from Public Announcement he single handedly became one of the biggest-selling male artists of the '90s and one of the most successful male artists of all time.

Kelly is well known for his explicit carnality creating such hits as "Bump N' Grind," "Feelin' on Yo Booty," and "Ignition (Remix)." However, Mr. Kelly has also had hits such as "I Believe I Can Fly," "I'm Your Angel" (the Grammy Award nominated duet with Celine Dion), "If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time," "I Wish," & "Step in the Name of Love (Remix)," which have transcended Kelly's sexed-up image into R&B crossover success.

In June 2002, Kelly was indicted on 21 counts of having sexual intercourse with a minor. The charges, which were later reduced to soliciting a minor for child pornography, stemmed from a video tape showing Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl. To date, Kelly still faces 14 of the original charges. Since, Kelly has become most notable for his soapy mini-opera/film Trapped in the Closet. R. Kelly to date has released 12 LPs, sold 35 million albums in the U.S., 15 million singles, and over 50 million albums worldwide making him the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s. R. Kelly's eighth solo album "Double Up" is scheduled for release on May 29, 2007.

Biography

Early career

In 1989, Kelly formed the group MGM with longtime friend Marc McWilliams and later released his first single "Why You Wanna Play Me" on Tavdash Records. The following year, the group appeared on the TV talent show Big Break (hosted by Natalie Cole) and won. However, it wasn't until Kelly sang at a backyard barbeque on the South Side of Chicago, which Wayne Williams (current senior vice-president of A&R at Jive/BMG) was attending that he was finally noticed. According to Williams, Kelly was "phenomenal," but at the time was managed by Eric Payton. Fortunately, Williams and Payton were high school friends and after a brief discussion in which Williams expressed interest in Kelly, Payton agreed to let Kelly sign with Jive and the rest is history. In late 1991, the 25 year old songwriter and his then-group Public Announcement recorded much of what would become their first release Born Into the '90s. Released in January 1992, the instant R&B smash spawned two Billboard Top 40 hits including "Honey Love," and "Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)." "Dedicated" was the groups biggest pop hit spending 2 weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart.

12 Play and Aaliyah

Template:Sample box start variation 2 Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end By 1993, Kelly had left the group to forge a solo career. Kelly's solo debut, 12 Play, yielded three top 40 singles: "Sex Me (Pt. 1)," "Your Body's Callin Me," and the chart-topping "Bump N' Grind." In 1994, he completed singer Aaliyah's debut album, Age Ain't Nothing But a Number. Released that summer, the album eventually went 2x platinum on the strength of singles like "Back and Forth" and "At Your Best."

Kelly and Aaliyah allegedly married illegally in 1994 — Aaliyah was only 15 but claimed to be 18 on the alleged marriage papers. Vibe magazine revealed their marriage in 1995, and the two were reported to have quickly and quietly annulled their union. Aaliyah also ended her professional partnership with Kelly at that time. Kelly was thought to be having relations with long term friend Ryan DeJong during his marriage with Aaliyah which was rumored to be the reason of the divorce. She went on to have a successful career, albeit one tragically cut short by her death in a plane crash on August 25, 2001. At the time, rumors of the marriage were fended off with denials; however, over a decade later, allegations of dalliances with underage girls would come back to haunt him.

R. Kelly & Successful Collaborations

After his brush with controversy, Kelly returned to the studio to record his third album (his second solo effort). His 1995 self-titled album "R. Kelly" was another big success, selling over 5 million copies and spawning hit singles such as "You Remind Me of Something", "I Can't Sleep (Baby If I)" and his collaboration with legendary R&B group The Isley Brothers featuring Ronald Isley, "Down Low(Nobody Has To Know)". The album was hailed by some as the singer's most matureto date.

In 1995, Kelly found success as a songwriter penning hits for the R&B group Changing Faces and pop and R&B music stars Janet Jackson (producing the remix for Jackson's 1994 smash, "Any Time, Any Place") and Michael Jackson (penning and co-producing the single, "You Are Not Alone" for Jackson's HIStory). SABAM, Belgian right society, however, confirmed that the tune of the song "You Are Not Alone" was originally composed in 1993 by Eddy & Danny Van Passel, veteran Belgian songwriters, producers and music publishers.

I Believe I Can Fly & R.

In 1996, "I Believe I Can Fly" was released from the Space Jam Soundtrack. R. Kelly has stated Michael Jordan told him to come up with the song, and the song was composed while he was touring with The Notorious B.I.G. in Detroit. "I Believe I Can Fly" was an across the boards hit, hitting number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the UK Pop Charts. The single was a huge worldwide success and is R. Kelly's most famous song to date. Rolling Stone Magazine named it as the 408th of its top 500 songs of all time. Following his 1997 Grammy's performance of "I Believe I Can Fly" the whole auditorium gave a standing ovation. In 1997 he also had a hit with "Gotham City".

In 1998, the double disc "R." was released to enormous success. The duet "I'm Your Angel" with Celine Dion topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 6 weeks. Other singles included the Sam Cooke inspired "If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time", "When A Woman's Fed Up" and "Home Alone". The "R." album has since been certified 8 times platinum by RIAA.

The Best of Both Worlds

After being noted for singing hooks on hip-hop tunes by The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Puff Daddy and Jay-Z, there were talks that his collaborations with the latter rapper led to what was supposed to be a memorable project as the rapper and the singer teamed up to record an album together. Released in 2002, The Best of Both Worlds debuted at #2 on the Billboard pop albums chart, but no music videos were shot for the album. Commercially, the album was a disappointment for both R. Kelly himself and for Jay-Z, though its sales increased with Kelly's later improved commercial success.

During late-2001 and early-2002 Kelly began working on the follow up to his album TP-2.com entitled Loveland. The album was scheduled to be released in November 2002, but like the BOBW (The Best of Both Worlds) project before it, it was affected by heavy bootlegging. Due to this, Kelly went back to the studio and recorded another album Chocolate Factory which was released in February 2003, to great anticipation and success. The album did feature several of the bootlegged tracks - and many have cropped up elsewhere, as seen below. it also came as a six track disc with the initial release of Chocolate Factory as The Bootleg CD.

Tracks possibly intended for Loveland album, which wound up on the bootlegged version include:

  1. "Spirit" (ended up on Happy People/U Saved Me)
  2. "All I" (as yet unreleased, but sampled by Mannie Fresh on his 2004 track "Lady, Lady")
  3. "Leap of Faith" (ended up on Happy People/U Saved Me)
  4. "Make Me" (ended up on Chocolate Factory under the name "You Knock Me Out")
  5. "Fly" (extended opera influenced version of "I Believe I Can Fly" as used on the TP-2 Tour)
  6. "The World's Greatest" (was already released on the Ali OST)
  7. "(Step) In The Name Of Love" (ended up on Chocolate Factory in both original mix and remix, which was a No. 1 R&B hit)
  8. "Love For Me" (renamed "Far More" and was available on the bonus Loveland CD with the first pressings of Chocolate Factory)
  9. "Somethings Never Change" (as yet unreleased, a very 1970s Stevie Wonder-like track)
  10. "Forever And Ever" (a.k.a. "Marry Me" - ended up on Chocolate Factory under the name "Forever")
  11. "You Bring Me Joy" (as yet unreleased, a soulful bedroom ballad)
  12. "Make You My Baby" (track given to Joe and appeared on his 2003 album And Then...)
  13. "Come to Daddy" (originally part of the BOBW tracklisting, unknown if this would have been on Loveland)
  14. "Kiss You In Those Places" ( still unreleased, but appeared on original TP-3: Reloaded tracklisting, but not final album)
  15. "More and More" (track given to Joe, was a single, and appeared on his 2003 album And Then...)

Other tracks including "Loveland", "Heaven I Need A Hug", "Raindrops", "What Do I Do" and "Apologies of a Thug" may have also been apart of the album, but wound on on the bonus CD that came with Chocolate Factory.

Chocolate Factory and Happy People/U Saved Me

Despite the controversies, Kelly moved on with his career releasing his first album since the allegations came up with Chocolate Factory in 2003. The album became a big success yielding the number two hit remix of "Ignition" and the top 10 single, "Step In the Name Of Love" as well as the top 20 single, "Snake." Kelly's success continued not only with his own projects but also with now-defunct boy band B2K when he produced the #1 hit "Bump, Bump, Bump". He produced an album by frequent collaborators The Isley Brothers, titled Body Kiss, which became the group's first album in their career to debut at the top spot of the Billboard Top 200 album charts.

In 2004, he released a two-CD set, Happy People/U Saved Me. Happy People showcased sex-free secular dance tracks while U Saved Me was an inspirational album. Due to the album being released as a double CD set, the album sold over three million copies despite the modest chartings of singles "Happy People", "U Saved Me" and "Red Carpet (Pause, Flash)".

Unfinished Business

Kelly and Jay-Z released a follow up to the album The Best of Both Worlds in October 2004, Unfinished Business, which included eleven previously unreleased tracks by the duo. It debuted at #1 on the US Billboard albums chart. This release was timed to coincide with The Best Of Both Worlds Tour. The tour was troubled almost from the start with Kelly often showing to concert a couple of hours late. The singer, according to Jay-Z, often complained that the touring lights weren't directed towards him and often left during the middle of sets forcing the rapper to carry on with the set. Another night during the concert, Kelly stayed in his tour bus for two hours before finally coming out to perform an uninspired set.

Jay-Z eventually removed R. Kelly halfway through the tour, after a member of Jay-Z's entourage attacked R. Kelly with Mace or pepper spray. On April 25, 2006, it was confirmed that Jay-Z's childhood friend, Tyran (Ty-Ty) Smith confessed in a Manhattan Criminal Court to pepper-spraying R. Kelly and four of his bodyguards at Madison Square Garden in October 2004. Smith had been charged with assault, but was allowed to plead guilty to disorderly conduct for four days of community service. After the original incident, Jay-Z made Smith an executive of Def Jam Records. A Kelly rep said that Kelly's $16 million lawsuit against Jay-Z and Smith is close to a settlement. 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.

Trapped in the Closet

Kelly, who has sometimes referred to himself on record as the Pied Piper of R&B, had a pop hit in a collaboration with rapper Ja Rule and singer Ashanti titled "Wonderful." He released a new album titled TP-3: Reloaded in August 2005, which heralded back to his classic 12 Play period. In April 2005, Kelly released the long-awaited "In The Kitchen," well-known among fans attending his live shows. The song was intended to be the album's lead single and received major radio airplay for a couple of months, but Kelly eventually decided to leave it as a buzz single after the song's failure to top the R&B charts. It was quickly followed just weeks later with his "Trapped In The Closet" mini-opera, which rapidly climbed, and then quickly fell, the R&B and urban culture charts nationwide.

After the novelty success of the five-chapter song, which Kelly had likened to an audio version of Desperate Housewives before its release, Kelly revealed that he was working on parts six through ten of the song. They were released to radio later in the summer, in a similar fashion to how the first five were released, and Kelly promising to tie up some loose ends that the first five left. Another song off the album was a duet with rapper The Game titled "Playas Only," which despite an earlier climb failed to ignite the charts, quickly dropping off as fast as it peaked. At the MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, Kelly notably gave a six-minute-long lip-synched performance of his "Trapped in the Closet" suite, which was given mixed reviews.

Kelly was confirmed to be on a charity single hosted by singer Michael Jackson on the single, "I Have This Dream", which is to pay tribute to Hurricane Katrina victims. There were rumors as to Kelly's involvement in the song. Several articles stated Kelly was producing the track while other articles said that he's one of the performers. It has yet to be released. Kelly was recently on his own solo "Mr. Show Biz Presents: The Light It Up Tour," which concluded on Mother's Day 2006 in Atlanta. Trapped In The Closet 13-22 is set to release May 27 2007.

R. Kelly Live: The Light It Up Tour DVD

Filmed in Oakland, California on one of the last few days of his "Mr. Show Biz Presents: The Light It Up Tour," this DVD is the first live concert feature from R. Kelly. The musical genius performs his most-loved hits for a packed crowd at the Paramount Theatre. The DVD is over 60 minutes long and includes special features with behind the sences footage as well as a bonus disc with more behind the scenes footage that lets you into the mind, heart, and soul of R. Kelly. The DVD was released on March 20, 2007 and is directed by Jim Swaffield.

Double Up

As reported on Billboard.com, Kelly will release his brand new album 'Double Up' on May 29, 2007.

'Double Up' will include the latest single "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 released. Bow Wow is not featured on the remix. 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 called the number and were greeted by a recording of Kelly talking about his upcoming album and playing snippets of new songs in the studio. During the recording, Kelly revealed that the album is set to feature guest appearances & production by The Neptunes, The Runners, Mysto & Pizzi, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, T.I. & T-Pain. He explains that due to the success of his current collaborations with rappers like Young Jeezy and Ludacris, he thought, "why not put some of that magic on my album?" Well, Kelly didn't just put some of what he calls "magic" on the album, during the phone recording, he says 70 percent of the record will be up tempo but he assures fans that "there will be some slow jams on there. According to MTV News [[1]], Usher is on a collaboration with R. Kelly, called Same Girl.

Controversy

Sexual allegations

Allegations of Kelly's sexual activity with underage girls go as far back as 1991, when several women claimed to have had sex with him. In 1994, rumors surfaced that Kelly had married fellow singer Alex Shipton, which both singers had denied.

In 1995, a rumor surfaced that 15-year-old Aaliyah and 27-year-old R. Kelly had secretly married. Both camps initially denied the rumor, but VIBE magazine published a copy of their marriage license, which showed that Aaliyah's age had been falsely listed as 18. The marriage was annulled a few months later.

None of the prior reports reached the level of publicity that followed the release of a video tape in February 2002 that allegedly showed Kelly and a 14-year-old daughter of an associate, and niece of Sparkle, a former Kelly protégé, engaging in sex.[1] The tape, released by an unknown source, was sent to the Chicago Sun-Times, the newspaper that broke the story. While witnesses have identified the alleged victim, the girl and her parents have denied that she is the person shown on the tape. Kelly has also denied that he is the man in the video.[1]

Bootleg copies of that tape became widely available on the black market and over file sharing networks. The tape showed numerous sex acts, including the girl being urinated upon. In June 2002, Kelly was indicted in Chicago for 21 counts of having sex with a minor, which were later reduced to soliciting a minor for child pornography, seven counts of videotaping the acts, and seven counts of producing child pornography. These charges came after viewing the tapes showed that there was no actual sexual intercourse involved. Kelly still faces 14 of the charges.[1]

In addition to the charges in Illinois, Kelly was being considered for further charges in Polk county Florida in January 2003 on 12 counts of possession of child pornography when authorities alleged to have found a digital camera containing 12 pictures of an underage female with three of them showing Kelly and her engaged in intercourse.[1] These claims were never proven, and the charges were dropped after the search that led to them was ruled illegal.[1]

In 2004, allegations emerged that among Kelly's tapes was one including gospel singer Deleon Richards, the wife of Detroit Tigers baseball player Gary Sheffield.

There have been several other lawsuits against R. Kelly.[2] A dancer sued for invasion of privacy because tapes of her private acts with him were circulated, alleging that he allowed distribution of copies without her consent. The dancer later alleged that the taping was without her consent and was not properly protected. Two other sex suits by underage girls were settled and he denied any relationship with either of them, stating that the settlement was strictly to protect his emerging career. Another woman sued him because he seduced her at age 16, got her pregnant, and forced her to get an abortion.

During the pornography controversy, Kelly's problems carried over into his own family. His future wife, Andrea, sought a restraining order against him on September 2, 2005 claiming he physically and verbally attacked her on two occasions but rescinded her request on September 26. Andrea had been a backup dancer and became pregnant by him. They then married and she is the mother of his son and two daughters.R.Kelly and his wife are legally seperated,but are in the process of getting a divorce.[3]

After a number of delays, on October 27, 2006 a Cook County, Illinois court hearing for pre-trial motions set the date of the actual trial to February 7, 2007.[4] On the date of the trial Kelly's lawyer informed the court that his client was unable to attend because he was "undergoing surgery for a burst appendix." He also announced that Kelly was "in good condition and was expected to be released from the hospital later in the day." His attorney stated that Kelly (who has plead not guilty) would be in attendance on the next trial date of February 21, 2007.[5] It had previously been announced by the court that the videotape that allegedly shows Kelly performing sex acts with an underage girl will be publicly shown as evidence in the trial.

Vaughn’s allegations

On October 4, 2006 former employee Henry “Love” Vaughn (who claims to have been a “mentor and guide” to Kelly since he was a teenager) has filed a lawsuit against Kelly accusing him of assault, false imprisonment, and a breach of contract that defrauded him of songwriting royalties. Vaughn claims Kelly and his associates dragged him to the basement of Kelly’s Olympia Fields home on February 19, 2006 and Kelly “repeatedly struck him about the face and body with his fists." Vaughn also claims he gave Kelly the “concept” for the song “Steppin”. Kelly’s spokesman declared that Vaughn is merely trying to extort money and told reporters that a police investigation found no evidence to Vaughn’s assault allegations. Olympia Fields police confirmed that they had investigated the matter but would not comment beyond saying “we didn’t file any charges in the case.”[6]

Trivia

  • R. Kelly had the most Billboard Top 40 hits of any male artist during the 1990s with 15.
  • In 2005 VH1 voted "You Remind Me of Something" (R. Kelly, 1995) as one of the "Top 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs, Ever".
  • R. Kelly's Bump N' Grind stayed at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart for twelve weeks making it one of the longest-running #1 hits since the chart's reinstation to Billboard in 1965. In addition, Bump N' Grind was the longest-running #1 hit in 1994 until beng replaced by Mary J Blige's "Be Without You."
  • In 2003, comedian Dave Chappelle (Chappelle's Show) made a music video parody of Kelly's sex scandal titled "Piss on You," The song, which contains samples from Kelly's "Feelin' on Yo' Booty," depicts Kelly as having a urine and scat fetish. Kelly is shown pouring a suggestive substance from a bucket labeled "R. Kelly's Doo Doo Butter" and spraying liquid from a container labelled "R. Kelly's Urine." Minutes later Dave Chappelle played the "Piss on You (Remix)," which sampled Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)."
  • In the film Scary Movie 4 (2006), a character wakes from a nightmare and screams, "R. Kelly, don't pee on me!"
  • In 2002, MADtv also produced a music video parody featuring Aries Spears as Kelly singing of his ability to "get away" with statutory rape. The video, a parody of Kelly's "The World's Greatest," features Kelly flirting with several teenage girls and preparing to make a sex tape with them. In addition, the video was labeled as being directed by Roman Polanski. The video also briefly parodies one of his biggest hits, I Believe I Can Fly (this is where the "get away" part comes from).
  • In 2005, the animated Adult Swim series The Boondocks dedicated an entire episode to, "The Trial of R. Kelly", another parody of the singer's alleged crimes.
  • In 2005, MADtv again produced a music video parody about Kelly's urban opera "Trapped in the Closet" titled "Trapped in the Cupboard."
  • In the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet" episode 912 (#137), R. Kelly appears at Stan's house singing his opus while trying to get Tom Cruise to come out of the closet. A returning gag with Kelly is that like in the song, at any given time Kelly will pull out a gun causing every one to panic. At the end of the episode, instead of coaxing Cruise out of the closet, Kelly joins him and sings "Now I'm In The Closet Too."
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic also made a parody of "Trapped in the Closet" aptly named, "Trapped in the Drive-Thru."
  • In an attempt to popularize reggaeton Kelly collaborated with Wisin Y Yandel on 2005's TP-3: Reloaded. The song titled "Burn it Up" failed to gain much radio play in USA. It was a major hit in summer 2006 in Latin America.
  • In 1997, Kelly signed a contract to play professional basketball for the Atlantic City Seagulls of the USBL.

Discography

For a detailed listing of albums and singles, see R. Kelly discography.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=R._Kelly&oldid=129600241"