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R. Kelly music biography continued...

Born Robert Sylvester Kelly on January 8, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois, Kelly attended Kenwood Academy High School. One of his music teachers inspired him to be a singer and he began singing on street corners or wherever he could and eventually joined a local band named Public Announcement. They released their debut album, Born Into the 90's, at the beginning of 1992. It was an instant R&B sensation, while earning a fair amount of pop airplay; "Honey Love" and "Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)" were number one R&B hits, while "Dedicated" was his biggest pop hit at number 31. 12 Play, released in the fall of 1993, established Kelly as an R&B superstar, eventually selling over five million copies fueled by several of Kelly's trademarked sexed up singles. Kelly officially crossed over into pop superstardom with the 1996 single, "I Believe I Can Fly," which was written for the movie Space Jam. It reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Number 1 on the UK pop charts, eventually garnering Kelly both Grammy and MTV Movie Awards. Building on the hype of "Fly", Kelly released a double album simply titled R. That album would become Kelly's biggest-selling album to date selling over eight million copies and yielding the popular singles, "I'm Your Angel" (featuring Celine Dion) and "When a Woman's Fed Up". In between and afterwards, Kelly also found success with soundtracks such as "Gotham City" from Batman & Robin and "The World's Greatest" from Ali. At the time, many in the recording industry thought R. Kelly himself was "the world's greatest."



Kelly's star as a recording artist, songwriter and producer continued to rise meteorically at the end of the 90s and the beginning of the new millennium until a sex tape scandal threatened to permanently take him out of circulation. In June 2008, however, a jury acquitted him and he was free to once again make music. In 2008, Billboard reported that Kelly plans to release his newest album titled 12 Play: Fourth Quarter this summer. The album's current single, "Hair Braider," has climbed as high as number 56 on Billboard's R&B chart so far. It may be an indication that Kelly is interested in returning to his R&B roots, but whatever course he chooses to pursue, it is clear that he will be aided by his immense talent.