R. Kelly: The Name, the Star

With his first appearance on stage in 1992, Robert Sylvester Kelly, better known as R. Kelly, has a vast and varied career as producer, rapper, R&B singer and song-writer. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, January 8th, 1967. His childhood was very difficult due to poverty and neighboring hostility.

By 1990, R. Kelly released his first single “Why You Wanna Play Me” and the next year he was introduced to Aaliyah, to whom he was illegally married for a few months; this was during the year 1994. The controversy held around this event turned out their relationship to dissolute.

In 1992, on his 25th birthday, he released the album Born Into the '90s, in which songs like "She's Got that Vibe", "Slow Dance", "Dedicated", and "Honey Love" proved to be a success. A year after this album release, he comes back to the show with 12 Play, and with songs like "Sex Me", "Your Body's Calling" and "Bump & Grind" he becomes one of the most recognized figures in the R&B ambiance; actually, his hits have been categorized as Platinum because he has sold over a million copies. After being blamed for getting involved with teenaged girls R. Kelly comes back to the studio in 1995 to record his third album. This new release was a big success just like its antecedent; it sold over 5 million copies. The song called "You Remind Me of Something" was a Top 5 Pop and #1 R&B record in 1995.

Lately, his brand new production has bitten new records and in 2005, the hit “Burn it Up” featuring Wishin & Yandel is one of the singles of his new album TP.3 Reloaded and it is confirmed that it will be part of the X-Men: The Last Stand video game soundtrack.