Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is credited with prolific commercial success in R&B, hip hop, and pop music recordings, earning nicknames such as "the King of R&B", "the King of Pop-Soul", and "the Pied Piper of R&B".
Born on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, Kelly began performing in the subway under the Chicago "L" tracks, and regularly busked at the "L" stop on the Red Line's Jackson station in the Loop.
During his recording career, Kelly released 18 studio albums which yielded a number of hit singles, including "I Believe I Can Fly", "Bump N' Grind", "Your Body's Callin'", "Fiesta (Remix)", "Ignition (Remix)", "Step in the Name of Love (Remix)", "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time", "The World's Greatest", "I'm a Flirt (Remix)", and the hip hopera Trapped in the Closet.
In 1998, he won three Grammy Awards for "I Believe I Can Fly". Alongside his recording career, Kelly's songwriting and production work was credited on albums by Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, Janet Jackson, Chris Brown, Aaliyah, Usher, Ciara, Toni Braxton, Luther Vandross, and Mary J. Blige. Kelly received a Grammy Award nomination for his contributions to Jackson's 1995 single, "You Are Not Alone", which earned a Guinness World Record as the first song to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100 in the chart's history.
Kelly sold over 75 million albums and singles worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recognized Kelly as one of the best-selling artists in the United States with 40 million albums sold.
In 2011, Kelly was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard. Kelly won Grammy Awards, BET Awards, Soul Train Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and American Music Awards.
Kelly had long been the subject of accusations of sexual abuse, including that of minors, dating back to the 1990s. Following leaked video recordings, Kelly was prosecuted on child pornography charges in 2002, leading to a controversial trial that ended with his acquittal in 2008 on all charges. The 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly re-examined Kelly's alleged sexual misconduct with minors, prompting RCA Records to terminate his contract.
Kelly's success continued with the November 14, 1995, release of R. Kelly, his eponymous second studio album. Critics praised him for his departure from salacious bedroom songs to embracing vulnerability. New York Times contributor Stephen Holden described Kelly as "The reigning king of pop-soul sex talks a lot tougher than Barry White; the father of such fluffed-up pillow talks and along with Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway, [both] major influences for Kelly."
Kelly reportedly had a long relationship with gospel singer Deleon Richards in the 1990s. In 2005, a Chicago man was charged for attempting to extort Richards' husband, Gary Sheffield, by allegedly threatening to release a sex tape of Richards with an ex-boyfriend, reportedly Kelly. In January 2006, the man was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
In April 2007, Kelly released the song "Rise Up" for Virginia Tech after the 2007 school shooting and donated the net proceeds to the families of the victims. In 2010, he penned the song "Sign of a Victory" for the FIFA World Cup, with all proceeds benefiting African charities. On April 6, 2011, he performed at a charity event in Chicago benefiting Clara's House, a facility designed to build employment, housing, health care, and education in the projects of Chicago. In 2016, Kelly donated cases of water to the Flint water crisis.
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