Allegations of child molestation (2009)
In a divorce court filing unsealed in 2020, R. Kelly's former wife Andrea claims that R. Kelly was accused of molesting a preteen girl in 2009.
Second series of accusations (2010s–present)
Huffington Post Live interview (2015)
In December 2015, Kelly appeared on Huffington Post Live in an interview with journalist Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani. The interview was conducted so that he could promote the release of his thirteenth solo album, The Buffet.
During the interview, Modarressy-Tehrani quizzed Kelly about the sexual abuse allegations being leveled against him and wanted to gauge his reaction. This resulted in Kelly growing angry and defensive. He continually shouted over Modarressy-Tehrani, asked her whether she drank and threatened to leave and go to McDonald's. Kelly stormed out of the interview before it ended.
The incident was one of the first occasions where Kelly was concretely asked about the allegations against him on a public platform. Following Kelly's New York conviction in late-September 2021, Modarressy-Tehrani tweeted: "Now, with this verdict, hopefully, his survivors get some peace and feel this justice."
Alleged sex cult (2010s)
Jim DeRogatis reported for BuzzFeed News on July 17, 2017, that Kelly was accused by three sets of parents of holding their daughters in an "abusive cult". Kelly and the alleged victims denied the allegations.
In March 2018, BBC World Service aired a documentary entitled R Kelly: Sex, Girls and Videotapes presented by reporter Ben Zand that explored the 2017 allegations. This was followed up in May with the BBC Three documentary R Kelly: The Sex Scandal Continues, which included interviews with the Savage family.
Kelly was again accused of misconduct on April 17, 2018, by a former partner of his who claimed that Kelly "intentionally" infected her with a sexually transmitted disease. A representative for Kelly stated that he "categorically denies all claims and allegations".
In a January 2019 BBC News article, a woman named Asante McGee whom Kelly had met in 2014 and taken to live with him some months later, said that she lived with not only Kelly alone, but with other women. She said: "He controlled every aspect of my life, while I lived with him." McGee later moved out on her own accord.
Boycott and industry response
In May 2018, the Women of Color branch of the Time's Up movement called for a boycott of Kelly's music and performances over the many allegations against him. The boycott was accompanied by a social media campaign called Mute R. Kelly. In response, his management said that Kelly supports the movement in principle, but targeting him was "the attempted lynching of a black man who has made extraordinary contributions to our culture".
Music streaming service Spotify announced on May 10, 2018, that it was going to stop promoting or recommending music by Kelly, and XXXTentacion stating, "We don't censor content because of an artist's or creator's behavior, but we want our editorial decisions—what we choose to program—to reflect our values." Two days later, Apple Music and Pandora also announced that they would cease to feature or promote Kelly's music. Spotify was criticized by members of the music industry with concerns the decision would create a "slippery slope" of muting artists accused of criminal activity. Spotify ultimately reversed this decision, following initial backlash including that of Top Dawg Entertainment, which threatened to remove its musical catalog from streaming service.
In early-January 2019, Kelly was dropped from RCA Records following the airing of Surviving R. Kelly, which detailed numerous sexual assault allegations against the singer for decades. A number of musicians who collaborated with Kelly expressed regret for working with him, including Celine Dion ("I'm Your Angel"), Nick Cannon ("Gigolo"), Chance the Rapper ("Somewhere in Paradise"), Lady Gaga ("Do What U Want"), and Jennifer Hudson ("It's Your World"). Some went the extent of having streaming services remove their own songs that feature his vocals or credit him for songwriting or production.
As of October 2021, following his New York conviction, Kelly's YouTube channel was terminated, but his catalogue remained available on YouTube Music.
Alleged music industry complicity
In May 2018, The Washington Post reporter Geoff Edgers wrote "The Star Treatment", a lengthy article alleging music industry executives' willful blindness to Kelly's sexually abusive behavior toward underage girls. Edgers reported that as early as 1994, Kelly's tour manager urged Jive Records founder Clive Calder to tell Kelly he would not release the singer's records if he continued to have "incidents" with young women after every concert he gave. Calder told the Post that he regretted not having done more at the time, saying "Clearly, we missed something."
Former Jive president Barry Weiss told the newspaper that during twenty years with the label he never concerned himself with Kelly's private life and was unaware of two lawsuits filed against Kelly and the label by young women alleging sexual misconduct while they were minors. Jive Records had, in fact, successfully argued it was not liable. Larry Khan, another Jive executive who worked closely with the singer even after viewing the sex tape, likewise implied it was not the label's responsibility, and pointed to Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis as musicians whose labels continued to release and promote their records despite public awareness that they were involved with underage girls.
According to Post, executives at Epic Records also took a similarly relaxed attitude towards allegations of Kelly's sexual misconduct. In 2002, after Kelly signed with the label, executive David McPherson allegedly avoided viewing a copy of a tape purportedly showing the singer having sex with an underage girl; he simultaneously warned Kelly's assistant that if it turned out to be Kelly on that tape, the label would drop him. McPherson did not respond to the Post's requests for comment.
An intern with the label whose work suffered after she began a relationship with Kelly, ultimately costing her the position, settled with Epic for $250,000. Cathy Carroll, the executive she worked for, regularly rebuked her former subordinate for having an affair with a married man whenever the two met at social functions for years afterwards, and the damage to the woman's reputation led her to abandon her career in the music industry. Carroll told the newspaper the woman was "starstruck ... A lot of times it's not really the men."
The Washington Post also suggested the labels were complicit in the sex-cult allegations from the previous summer's BuzzFeed piece. Employees at the studios where Kelly recorded were required to sign non-disclosure agreements and not enter certain rooms, which they said they believed were where Kelly made the young women and underage girls stay while he worked. Despite the agreements, the newspaper was able to publish screenshots of text exchanges where young women and underage girls in the rooms asked Kelly's assistants to let them out so they could go to the bathroom or get food. The newspaper also 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.
Musical response to allegations
Kelly released the 19-minute long "I Admit" on SoundCloud on July 23, 2018, as a response to his accusers. The song does not contain any criminal admissions despite its title and chorus, which repeats the lyric "I admit it, I did it". In "I Admit", Kelly denies allegations of domestic violence and pedophilia, asserting that they are matters of opinion. Kelly also denounces Jim DeRogatis and repudiates his investigative report's claim of Kelly operating a "sex cult". Addressing the Mute R. Kelly social media campaign, Kelly sings, "only God can mute me".
The song was criticized by reviewers, who described it as an act of trolling. Many outlets compared the song to that of his "Heaven I Need a Hug" extended version, Trapped in the Closet opera, "I Believe I Can Fly" concert remix and O. J. Simpson's autobiographical novel, If I Did It. Andrea Kelly and Carey Killa Kelly, R. Kelly's ex-wife and brother respectively, responded to "I Admit" with songs that contain additional allegations against R. Kelly.
An album credited to Kelly titled I Admit It after and including the 19-minute song from 2018 was released on streaming services on December 9, 2022, but was taken down after it was not approved by Sony or R. Kelly's team. The album was credited to Sony's Legacy Recordings but actually uploaded by Real Talk Entertainment, who had released the album through a sub-label also named Legacy Recordings. This resulted in the credited distributor, Universal Music Group-owned Ingrooves, cutting ties with Real Talk Entertainment.
Surviving R. Kelly (2019–2020)
In January 2019, Lifetime began airing a six-part documentary series titled Surviving R. Kelly detailing sexual abuse and misconduct allegations against Kelly. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Loraine Ali observed that the series covered a range of in-depth interviews that "paint a picture of a predator whose behavior was consistently overlooked by the industry, his peers and the public while his spiritual hit was sung in churches and schools."
Within two weeks, Kelly launched a Facebook page where he sought to discredit the accusers who appeared in the docuseries. Facebook removed the page for violating their standards as it appeared to contain personal contact information for his accusers. The second season titled Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning premiered on January 2, 2020. January 2–3, 2023 commences the dates of the final season titled Surviving R. Kelly: The Final Chapter, as confirmed on a December 14, 2022 trailer uploaded on Lifetime's YouTube account.
Following airing of the Surviving R. Kelly documentary, Kelly was listed in Guinness World Records as the most searched for male musician on Google in 2019. He ranked 8th overall on Google's list of the 10 most search for people for the year.
CBS This Morning interview with Gayle King (2019)
On March 6, 2019, Gayle King interviewed Kelly on CBS This Morning. Kelly insisted on his innocence and blamed social media for the allegations. During the interview, Kelly had an emotional outburst where he stood up, pounded his chest, and yelled. Asked by King about John Legend and Lady Gaga denouncing him, Kelly called them "not professional".
The CBS This Morning segment also included two women whose parents claimed were brainwashed captives of Kelly. They described themselves as "girlfriends" of Kelly, defending and declaring their love for him, while also denouncing their parents. Afterward, King would debrief with colleagues on the recording on the segment. She recalled that a condition for recording the segment with the "girlfriends" was that Kelly would not be in the room with them. Kelly had nevertheless stayed nearby during the recording and, according to King, Kelly would "cough really loudly" to remind the women of his presence.
2019 Cook County arrest and indictments
On February 22, 2019, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in Illinois charged Kelly with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The charges allege that from 1998 to 2010, Kelly sexually abused four females, three of whom were teen minors at the time, with evidence including a video provided by Michael Avenatti of an alleged new crime. After Kelly turned himself in the day the charges were announced, he was arrested by the Chicago Police Department and taken into custody.
The judge set bond at $1 million and ordered Kelly to have no contact with any minor under 18 or alleged victim. Kelly pleaded not guilty to all charges, which he called lies. He was released on bail after three nights at Cook County Jail.
Federal indictments and pretrial detention (2019–present)
The first grand jury indictment from the Eastern District of New York was handed down June 20, 2019. On July 11, 2019, Kelly was arrested on federal charges alleging sex crimes and obstruction of justice by U.S. Homeland Security investigators and NYPD detectives in Chicago. A day later, following his re-arrest, federal prosecutors from New York and Chicago indicted Kelly on 18 charges, including child sexual exploitation, child pornography production, sex trafficking, kidnapping, forced labor, racketeering, and obstruction of justice.
Following his re-arrest on the first superseding indictment, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York filed a letter in support of a permanent order of detention that previewed its case against Kelly, concluding that "preponderance of the evidence that the defendant’s release poses a both a risk of flight and a risk of obstruction of justice". Kelly's first arraignment on the Eastern District case took place before a United States Magistrate Judge Steven Tiscione on August 2, 2019, where he plead not guilty. Judge Tiscione denied bail, on grounds of both dangerousness and flight risk.
Kelly's lawyers made a request for pre-trial release October 2019 and were denied. His lawyers tried again to secure pre-trial release in 2020, citing the COVID-19 pandemic; the request was denied.
Superseding indictments were filed in Chicago on February 13, 2020, and in New York on March 13, 2020, raising the total number of charges to 22. He was incarcerated at Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago from July 11, 2019, to June 23, 2021, when he was transferred to Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn.
Hennepin County indictment (2019)
On August 5, 2019, the State's Attorney Office in Hennepin County, Minnesota charged Kelly with soliciting a minor and prostitution. Prosecutors alleged that in July 2001, following a concert in Minneapolis, Kelly had invited a girl up to his hotel room and paid her $200 to remove her clothing and dance with him.
Trial in the Eastern District of New York (2021)
Superseding Indictment, United States of America v. Robert Sylvester Kelly
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York was the first federal court to indict Kelly; at the time, it was the only jurisdiction to take Kelly to trial following the charges filed in the wake of Surviving R. Kelly. Investigations continued with Kelly indicted, jailed and awaiting trial. Before trial, prosecutors previewed a growing body of evidence including evidence of bribes and recordings of threats. It was a month before trial that prosecutors first accused Kelly of abusing a male victim, an under-aged boy he met at McDonald's, as pattern evidence in his trial.
Jury trial
With Judge Ann Donnelly presiding, voir dire in United States v. Robert Sylvester Kelly was held August 9, 2021. The same day, Kelly's lawyers filed a last-second motion to dismiss charges related to his transmission of genital herpes to several of his victims; that Kelly knew of his infection and non-disclosure to his sexual partners is a criminal act under the Public Health Law of New York and was presented as a predicate act for the charge of racketeering as well as the violations of the Mann Act. Judge Donnelly denied the motion, releasing a written decision after the trial.
The federal jury trial began on August 18, 2021, with opening statements by prosecution and defense lawyers. The first witness called was Jerhonda Pace, one of the subjects of Surviving R. Kelly whose identity is widely known. She was the first of any of Kelly's accusers to have ever testified against him in court. Pace testified that Kelly's abuse included slapping, choking, and raping her. On cross examination, Pace was asked about signing a statement that she had deceived Kelly about her age and replied that it was a condition of a settlement.
In all, eleven witnesses at Kelly's trial accused him of abuse either sexual or physical, with some accusing him of both. Two accusers were men alleging Kelly had sexually abused them as children; one ("Louis") had recruited the other ("Alex") and testified as a cooperating witness. In addition, eight employees of Kelly's staff testified, corroborating details of Kelly's modus operandi.
Toward the end of the testimony on September 15, 2021, video corroborating accusers' accounts of abuse was shown to the jury, but not the public nor media. The videos were alluded to in later closing arguments as depicting Kelly delivering a painful spanking to one accuser, and a lengthy recording in which Kelly demanded acts of coprophagia and urophagia to humiliate another accuser. As the jury deliberated, the press were allowed to listen to the audio portions to fulfill obligations of access to evidence; accounts confirm that Kelly and his victim's voices are heard narrating the graphic acts of abuse of the latter recording. Months after the verdict, prosecutors disclosed that, following Kelly's orders, "[a]t least three women made videos of themselves eating feces and rubbing it over their bodies."
Guilty verdicts
Jacquelyn M. Kasulis, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent-in-Charge, Homeland Security Investigations, New York (HSI), announced the guilty verdict on September 27, 2021
After a six-week trial including two days of deliberations, on September 27, 2021, the jury returned a verdict of guilty on all nine counts of the verdict sheet. They include:
One count of Racketeering (18 U.S.C. § 1962(c)).
Eight Mann Act violations:
Three counts of transportation across state lines for illegal sexual activity (18 U.S.C. § 2421(a))
Four counts coercion and enticement (18 U.S.C. § 2422(a))
One count of transportation of a minor (18 U.S.C. § 2423(a)).
As described in a release by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the racketeering charge against Kelly specified the following predicate acts:
Racketeering Act One – Bribery
Kelly bribed a state employee to create an identification card for Jane Doe #1, then 15 years old, so that Kelly could marry Jane Doe #1 because he believed she was pregnant and therefore the marriage could keep him out of jail.
Racketeering Acts Two, Seven and Ten – Sexual Exploitation of a Child – Jane Doe #2, Jane Doe #4 and Jane Doe #5
Kelly coerced Jane Doe #2, Jane Doe #4 and Jane Doe #5 to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing video recordings. Over the course of decades, he made these recordings, and other recordings of sexually explicit conduct, using VHS video cameras, Canon camcorders, iPhones and iPads.
Racketeering Acts Six, Eleven and Thirteen – Forced Labor – Jane Doe #4, Jane Doe #5 and Jane Doe #6
Kelly used the threat of physical harm and physical restraint to ensure that his victims, including Jane Doe #4, Jane Doe #5 and Jane Doe #6, performed sexually at his command. As to Jane Doe #4, he slapped her, choked her and spat on her, before demanding she give him oral sex. As to Jane Doe #5, over a period of years, he spanked her, viciously assaulted her, confined her for periods of days and otherwise manipulated her, to ensure that she would perform for him sexually, including with other women and a man. As to Jane Doe #6, he forced her to give him oral sex. When he did that, there was a gun within Kelly’s reach.
Racketeering Acts Five and Nine – Mann Act Violations – Jane Doe #4 and Jane Doe #5
Between May 2009 and January 2010, Kelly regularly spoke with Jane Doe #4 over the telephone to arrange for Jane Doe #4 to come to his residence in Olympia Fields for the purpose of illegal sexual activity, which was illegal because Jane Doe #4 was too young to consent to sex in Illinois. Similarly, between September 2015 and October 2015, Kelly transported Jane Doe #5, who was then 17 years old, from New York City to Oakland, California for the purpose of illegal sexual activity, as she was too young to consent to sex in California.
Racketeering Acts Eight, Thirteen and Fourteen – Mann Act Violations – Jane Doe #5 and Jane Doe #6
In April 2015, Kelly arranged for Jane Doe #5 to fly from her home in Orlando, Florida, to Los Angeles, California, for the purpose of illegal sexual activity, which was illegal because Kelly knew he had an incurable sexually transmitted disease (“STD”) and did not inform Jane Doe #5 about the STD prior to engaging in sexual intercourse with her. In May of 2017 and again in February of 2018, Kelly arranged for Jane Doe #6 to fly from her home in San Antonio, Texas, to La Guardia Airport in Queens, New York, for the purpose of illegal sexual activity, which again was illegal because Kelly failed to disclose that he had an incurable STD and obtain Jane Doe #6’s consent to engage in sexual intercourse under those circumstances.
— United States Department of Justice, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, “R. Kelly” Convicted of All Counts by a Federal Jury in Brooklyn
Post-verdict reaction
United States District Judge Ann Donnelly ordered Kelly to be kept in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn to await sentencing. Kelly faced a sentencing range of 10 years to life in prison, and on June 29, 2022, was sentenced to spend 30 years behind bars. After the jury delivered their verdict, women's rights attorney Gloria Allred, who represented several victims, stated that Kelly was the worst sexual predator she had pursued in her 47-year career of practicing law.
Writing for The New Yorker, longtime Kelly nemesis Jim DeRogatis asked, "how many more victims are there who we don't know about? This case involved twenty women and two men, but there are likely many more." DeRogatis noted that before the trial, prosecutors had told the judge they would call Susan E. Loggans, a Chicago attorney who had negotiated settlements on behalf of several accusers who testified in the criminal case. Loggans was never actually called to the stand.
On October 29, 2021, Kelly retained the services of Jennifer Ann Bonjean, who has helped overturn rape convictions for Bill Cosby and a victim of Jon Burge. Kelly fired his other lawyers in January 2022.
Sentencing
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace and Executive Associate Director Steve Francis of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) deliver remarks after the sentencing of R. Kelly to 30 years in prison.
The sentencing process in the Eastern District of New York began with the presentation of the sealed Pre-sentence Report (PSR) by the Office of Probation to the court on April 5, 2022. Kelly's defense lawyer Jennifer Bonjean lodged several objections to the report's description of Kelly's conduct.
The opposing sides differed sharply in assessments of applicable sentence. Bonjean filed a defense sentencing memorandum arguing that the applicable sentence according to United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines would be 168–210 months imprisonment, and that Kelly should receive less prison time. Arguing for leniency, Bonjean also wrote that a minor victim of Kelly was "a sophisticated 16-year-old". In its own sentencing memorandum, prosecutors supported the application of several enhancements under Sentencing Guidelines, adding up to a sentence of 25 years-to-life imprisonment, and that "[g]iven the need for specific deterrence and incapacitation, the government respectfully submits that a shorter sentence would be insufficient to adequately protect the public."
Kelly's defense submitted several exhibits of their own attesting to mitigating factors in a supplement to the sentencing memorandum. The exhibits were filed under seal. Following an unsealing and redaction process, the court revealed that factors Kelly's defense cited were his history of adverse childhood experiences, including sexual abuse by his sister and his illiteracy. Defense experts diagnosed Kelly with hyper-sexuality.
In the first half of Kelly's sentencing date of June 29, 2022, seven women were permitted to address court with their victim impact statements. According to Rolling Stone journalists, Kelly refused to look at them. Judge Donnelly ended the day reportedly sentencing Kelly to 30 years imprisonment, admonishing his criminality as "calculated and carefully planned and regularly executed for almost 25 years".
In her written judgment, Donnelly's sentence was apportioned as 30 years for the top charge of racketeering; 20 year sentences for three acts of Mann Act coercion and enticement; a 20-year sentence for one violation of the Mann Act transportation of a minor; and 10 years for three counts of Mann Act transportation across state lines for illegal sexual activity. These prison sentences will be served concurrently. Following Kelly's completing a prison sentence, Judge Donnelly ordered Kelly to serve 5 years of supervised release with conditions typical for sex offenders.
In addition to prison time, Judge Donnelly levied a $100,000 fine plus a statutory $40,000 penalty under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. Contesting the assessments, attorney Jennifer Bonjean claimed that Kelly has lost his income and is indigent. Prosecutors countered that Kelly has secretly sold rights to his composition and lyrics royalties for $5 million. On September 28, 2022, 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.
According to Bonjean, Kelly was "devastated" by his sentence but would appeal. Following his sentencing, the Federal Bureau of Prisons placed Kelly under suicide watch. His legal team argued that the measures were unnecessary, punitive and cruel, because he was never suicidal nor had he ever even thought about suicide. However, prosecutors defended the placement, claiming it was for his own safety. On Independence Day 2022, authorities removed Kelly from suicide watch.
On July 13, 2022, 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.
Trial in the Northern District of Illinois (2022)
Parallel to Eastern District of New York prosecution, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago indicted Kelly alongside two alleged co-conspirators: his manager Derrel McDavid and his personal assistant Milton "June" Brown. All pled "not guilty". The case was tried before Judge Harry Leinenweber, and commenced on August 17, 2022.
Allegations
The final superseding indictment of Kelly and his co-conspirators charged him with the following:
Counts One through Four: Production of child pornography (18 U.S.C. § 2251(a)) for four videos filmed with "Minor 1" between 1998 and 1999.
Count Five: Conspiracy to defraud the United States (18 U.S.C. § 371) for various illegal acts from 2001 until 2015 to cover up offenses in the 2002 Cook County case.
Counts Six through Eight: Receipt of child pornography (18 USC § 2252A(a)(2) and § 2252A(b)(1)) conspiracies to obtain videos of child sexual abuse to conceal them.
Counts Nine through Thirteen: Child sex trafficking through coercion and enticement (18 U.S.C. § 2422(b)) of five unnamed victims (listed as Minors 1, 3, 4, 5, 6), for acts committed in the time span of 1996 through 2001.
Trial process
Jury selection began August 15, 2022. Over 100 potential jurors were interviewed over two days. The regular jury of twelve persons consisted of four white women, four black women, two white men, and two black men.
On the first day of testimony, the jury heard from a witness who is allegedly depicted in the child sexual abuse material revealed in 2002. Now 37, the alleged victim was allowed by the court to testify under the pseudonym "Jane". She testified that Kelly groomed her for sexual abuse starting when she was 13 years of age, presenting himself as a benevolent "godfather". Jane also told the jury that Kelly induced her to recruit other girls for abuse. Speaking to efforts to thwart law enforcement, Jane told the court that Kelly sent her to travel to the Bahamas and Cancun to keep her away from law enforcement, and coaxed her to lie to a grand jury.
Also testifying was an individual who purchased a home previously owned by Kelly. The interior was alleged to match the 2002 video. The individual noted that after his purchase, he discovered a bedroom contained a camera disguised as a smoke detector and a secured door requiring a button to be pressed to leave.
Verdict and sentencing
On September 14, the jury found Kelly guilty on three of thirteen charges of production of child pornography and three charges of enticing a child, but acquitted him and his alleged co-conspirators of trial fixing related to his 2008 state child pornography trial.
Sentencing in Chicago court is slated for February 2023.
Other court cases
Other than the federal sex abuse cases, Kelly has been involved in several high-profile criminal cases and lawsuits.
Criminal
August 13, 1997: Kelly was found guilty of battery and placed on unsupervised probation for one year in Lafayette, Louisiana as a result of a July 1996 brawl which involved the singer and his entourage. One of the victims needed a total of 110 facial stitches.
April 8, 1998: Kelly was arrested in Chicago on three misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, including one charge of violating noise ordinance for playing his music extremely loud from his car, during a test run. He was allegedly confrontational as he was arrested and placed into custody. The vehicle he was testing audio in was impounded and placed on a $500 daily recovery fee. Prosecutors from the district attorney's office dropped the first two charges on May 7, and the noise charge on July 22 that year.
March 6, 2019: Kelly was taken to the Cook County Jail after failing to pay child support in the amount of $161,633 to his former wife, Andrea. Three days later, he was released after someone, whose identity was withheld, paid off the child support on his behalf. His lawyer says he could not discuss the payment due to a gag order.
Civil suits
November 1, 2004: Kelly launched a $75 million lawsuit against former friend Jay-Z and several concert organizers and/or promoters for removing him from the Best of Both Worlds tour. The lawsuit for breach of contract, which sought $75 million in damages ($60 million in punitive damages and $15 million for lost income) was a result of not being able to tour.
January 2005: Jay-Z counter-sued the singer, claiming Kelly showed erratic behavior including being late or absent attendances, vacating deadlines, and continued demands or requests that led to several cancellations and resulted in loss of gross. Kelly's lawyers challenged it as "inaccurate smears of [Mr. Kelly] that are utterly irrelevant to the issues of the case" but confirmed the rapper's refusal to continue work with Kelly after the Madison Square Garden incident and thus broke the contract. Jay-Z's counter suit was dismissed by a judge that May.
November 2005: Kelly sued Jay-Z again, claiming that now Roc Nation executive Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith was awarded with the position of vice president at the artist and repertoire department of Def Jam Recordings (which Jay was president of at the time), as a result of the latter pepper-spraying Kelly on October 29, 2004.
Influence
Kelly is considered to be one of the most successful R&B artists since the mid-1980s. He is also one of the best-selling music artists in the United States, with over 30 million albums sold, as well as only the fifth black artist to enter the top 50 of the same list. Rolling Stone magazine called him "arguably the most important R&B figure of the 1990s and 2000s". Music executive Barry Weiss described Kelly as "the modern-day Prince, although there's a bit of Marvin Gaye in him, and a bit of Irving Berlin".
In addition to his solo and collaboration success, Kelly has also written and produced several hit songs, such as "Fortunate" for Maxwell, "You Are Not Alone" for Michael Jackson, "G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T." for Changing Faces, "Bump, Bump, Bump" for B2K, and many more. R. Kelly has been compared to artists like Sam Cooke and Marvin Gaye.
Personal life
Kelly's mother, Joanne, died from cancer in 1993. He has given conflicting accounts of where he was during his mother's passing. His oldest daughter, JoAnn (born in 1998), was named after the singer's mother, but is also known as Buku Abi.
In 1996, Kelly married Andrea Kelly (née Lee), his former backup dancer and mother of his three children, the aforementioned JoAnn, as well as Jaah (b. 2000), and Robert, Jr. (b. 2002) Andrea filed a restraining order against Kelly in September 2005 after a physical altercation, ultimately filing for divorce in 2006. In January 2009, their divorce was finalized after 13 years of marriage. Recently, including in Surviving R. Kelly (2019), Andrea, herself, accused Kelly of physical, verbal, and mental abuse.
Philanthropy
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, Kelly 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.
Honors and awards
Kelly has received and been nominated for multiple awards, as a songwriter, producer, and singer. He won three Grammy Awards for his song "I Believe I Can Fly": Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best Rhythm and Blues Song, and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television. After Kelly's federal conviction in New York, The Recording Academy received major backlash in 2021 for refusing to strip Kelly of his awards.
Kelly was given a key to the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 2013 as "an artist whose music brings generations together". On September 30, 2021, following his New York conviction of multiple sex crimes, the key was rescinded.
Discography
Studio albums
12 Play (1993)
R. Kelly (1995)
R. (1998)
TP-2.com (2000)
Chocolate Factory (2003)
Happy People/U Saved Me (2004)
TP.3 Reloaded (2005)
Double Up (2007)
Untitled (2009)
Love Letter (2010)
Write Me Back (2012)
Black Panties (2013)
The Buffet (2015)
12 Nights of Christmas (2016)
Collaborative albums
Born into the 90's with Public Announcement (1992)
The Best of Both Worlds with Jay-Z (2002)
Unfinished Business with Jay-Z (2004)
Filmography
Books
Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me (2012, autobiography)
Tours
60653 Tour (w/ Public Announcement) (1993)
The 12 Play Very Necessary Tour (with Salt-N-Pepa) (1994)
The Down Low Top Secret Tour (with LL Cool J, Xscape, and Solo) (1996)
The Get Up on a Room Tour (with Kelly Price, Nas, Foxy Brown, and Deborah Cox) (1999)
The TP-2.com Tour (with Sunshine Anderson & Syleena Johnson) (2001)
The Key in the Ignition Tour (with Ashanti) (2003)
The Best Of Both Worlds Tour (w/ Jay-Z) (2004)
The Light It Up Tour (2006)
The Double Up Tour (with J. Holiday & Keyshia Cole) (2007)
The Ladies Make Some Noise Tour (with K. Michelle) (2009)
Love Letter Tour (with Keyshia Cole & Marsha Ambrosius) (2011)
The Single Ladies Tour (with Tamia) (2012–13)
Black Panties Tour (2014–16)
The Buffet Tour (2016)
R. Kelly. (2023, January 11). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Kelly
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