Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967), known professionally as R. Kelly, is an American recording artist, songwriter, record producer, and former professional basketball player. A native of Chicago, Illinois, often referred to as the King of R&B, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play. He is known for a collection of major hit singles including "Bump N' Grind", "Your Body's Callin'", "I Believe I Can Fly", "Gotham City", "Ignition (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, Kelly won three Grammy Awards for "I Believe I Can Fly". His distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous hip hop and contemporary R&B artists. Kelly became the first music star to play professional basketball, when he got signed in 1997.[7]
Kelly has written, produced, and remixed songs and albums for many artists, including Aaliyah's 1994 debut album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number. In 1996, Kelly was nominated for a Grammy for writing Michael Jackson's song "You Are Not Alone". In 2002 and 2004, Kelly released collaboration albums with rapper Jay-Z and has been a guest vocalist for other hip hop artists like Nas,Sean Combs, and The Notorious B.I.G.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recognized R. Kelly as one of the best-selling music artists in the United States with 40 million albums sold as well as only the fifth black artist to crack the top 50 of the same list.[9] In March 2011, R. Kelly was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard.[10][11][12] Kelly has released 12 solo studio albums, and sold over 100 million records worldwide making him the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s.[13][14][15] He has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop, earning the nicknames "King of R&B" and "King of Pop-Soul".[16][17] He is listed byBillboard as the most successful R&B/Hip Hop artist of the past 25 years (1985-2010) and also the most successful R&B artist in history.[11] Throughout his career, Kelly has won numerous awards, including a Guinness World Records as well as countless of other awards like Grammy, BET, Soul Train, Billboard, NAACP and American Music Award.
THROWBACKTHISDAY; makes it 49 years and TBT Blog celebrates with him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLS !!!!
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