48 Facts About R Kelly

Robert Sylvester Kelly was born on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, on January 8,1967 at Chicago Lying-In Hospital in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood.

Around the time he was five years old, R Kelly's mother married his stepfather, Lucious, who reportedly worked for an airline.

Carey stated that although their older brother, Bruce, was spared and allowed to play outside, both him and R Kelly were punished at separate times indoors by Theresa, who refused to acknowledge the abuse when confronted years later.

In September 1980, R Kelly entered Kenwood Academy in the city's Hyde Park-Kenwood district, where he met music teacher Lena McLin, who encouraged R Kelly to perform the Stevie Wonder classic "Ribbon in the Sky" in the high school talent show.

McLin encouraged R Kelly to leave the high school basketball team and concentrate on music.

In 1994, R Kelly established himself as a leading producer by producing songs for various artists, including Aaliyah, Janet Jackson and Changing Faces.

In 1995, R Kelly garnered his first Grammy nominations; two for writing, producing, and composing Michael Jackson's last number-one hit, "You Are Not Alone".

On November 26,1996, R Kelly released "I Believe I Can Fly", an inspirational song originally released on the soundtrack for the film Space Jam.

In 1997, R Kelly signed a contract to play professional basketball with the Atlantic City Seagulls of the USBL.

In 2001, R Kelly won the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Music of Black Origin or MOBO Awards and Billboard magazine ranked TP-2.

On February 18,2003, R Kelly released the album, Chocolate Factory.

Between mid-2003 and early 2004, R Kelly began work on a double CD album, one with "happy" tracks and another with "inspirational" tracks.

Album promotion and its Best of Both Worlds tour were both plagued by tension between the stars, with R Kelly reportedly showing up late or not at all to gigs.

In December 2006, R Kelly built momentum for his eighth solo studio album, Double Up, after guest-appearing on Bow Wow's "I'm a Flirt".

In December 2007, R Kelly failed to appear at another preliminary court hearing on his case due to his tour bus being held up in Utah.

In 2008, R Kelly released a rap track titled "I'm a Beast" in which he coarsely attacked his detractors, yet did not name the subjects of the song.

In February 2009, R Kelly announced that he was working on a new album called Untitled with a projected release date of September 29, but it had been delayed to December.

In November 2010, R Kelly collaborated with several African musicians forming a supergroup known as One8.

On July 19,2011, R Kelly was admitted to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago to undergo emergency throat surgery to drain an abscess on one of his tonsils, and was released on July 21,2011.

In 2011, R Kelly worked with writer David Ritz on an autobiography entitled Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me, which was later released in the summer of 2012.

On October 7,2011, after Sony's RCA Music Group announced the consolidation of Jive, Arista and J Records into RCA Records, R Kelly was set to release music under the RCA brand.

On December 21,2011, R Kelly made a live appearance on The X Factor and gave his first performance after the surgery.

In February 2012, R Kelly performed "I Look to You", a song he wrote for Whitney Houston, at Houston's homegoing.

On June 30,2013, R Kelly performed live at BET Awards Show singing hits as well as his new track "My Story" featuring Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz.

In 2013, Kelly collaborated with several artists including Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige, and Jennifer Hudson.

In July 2014, R Kelly announced that he was working on a house music album.

In "I Admit", R Kelly denies allegations of domestic violence and pedophilia, asserting that they are matters of opinion.

In 1998, R Kelly settled the lawsuit with Hawkins for $250,000.

Reportedly, R Kelly married Aaliyah after he found out she was pregnant.

The publisher broke the story on February 8,2002, the same day R Kelly performed at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics.

In June 2002, R Kelly was indicted in Chicago on 21 counts of child pornography.

That same month on June 5,2002, R Kelly was arrested by the Miami Police Department on a Chicago arrest warrant at his Florida vacation home.

In December 2015, R Kelly appeared on Huffington Post Live in an interview with journalist Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani.

The incident was one of the first occasions where R Kelly was concretely asked about the allegations against him on a public platform.

Jim DeRogatis reported for BuzzFeed News on July 17,2017, that R Kelly was accused by three sets of parents of holding their daughters in an "abusive cult".

An intern with the label whose work suffered after she began a relationship with R Kelly, ultimately costing her the position, settled with Epic for $250,000.

Employees at the studios where R Kelly recorded were required to sign non-disclosure agreements and not enter certain rooms, which they said they believed were where R Kelly made the young women and underage girls stay while he worked.

The newspaper published pictures taken after Kelly had concluded a six-week session at a Los Angeles studio, paid for by his former record label, RCA Records, showing a cup of urine sitting on a piano and urine stains on the wooden floor of another room.

The judge set bond at $1 million and ordered R Kelly to have no contact with any minor under 18 or alleged victim.

On January 30,2023, the Cook County District Attorney's office announced that several Illinois-specific charges against R Kelly had been dropped, due to "him already being served justice in extensive federal sentences", preventing him to face more maximum prison time for state-related charges.

Prosecutors alleged that in July 2001, following a concert in Minneapolis, R Kelly had invited a girl up to his hotel room and paid her $200 to remove her clothing and dance with him.

Pace testified that R Kelly's abuse included slapping, choking, and raping her.

On cross examination, Pace was asked about signing a statement that she had deceived R Kelly about her age and replied that it was a condition of a settlement.

The videos were alluded to in later closing arguments as depicting R Kelly delivering a painful spanking to one accuser, and a lengthy recording in which R Kelly demanded acts of coprophagia and urophagia to humiliate another accuser.

Prosecutors countered that R Kelly has secretly sold rights to his composition and lyrics royalties for $5 million.

On September 28,2022, R Kelly was ordered to pay restitution of $300,000 to one of his victims, with potential for tens of thousands of dollars more to pay for another victim.

On July 13,2022, R Kelly transferred out of Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn to Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago in anticipation of a trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Jane told the jury that R Kelly induced her to recruit other girls for abuse.