R. Kelly

Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer. He has been credited with prolific success in both R&B and hip hop, earning nicknames such as "the King of R&B", "the King of Pop-Soul", and the "Pied Piper of R&B". In 2022, Kelly was convicted of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges stemming from decades of criminal allegations involving minors. He is currently serving a 31-year prison sentence.

Kelly has released 18 studio albums and is known for hit singles such as "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". Kelly has also written, produced, and remixed hundreds of songs, singles, and albums for other artists such as Michael Jackson, Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Aaliyah and Janet Jackson. In 1996, he received a Grammy Award nomination for writing and producing Michael Jackson's single "You Are Not Alone", which also won a Guinness World Record as the first song in history to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Kelly has sold over 75 million albums and singles worldwide, making him the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s and one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has recognized 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. In March 2011, Kelly was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard. Throughout his career, Kelly has been awarded Grammy Awards, BET Awards, Soul Train Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and American Music Awards.

Investigations by law enforcement and journalists revealed that Kelly used his fame to seek out underage fans for sex. Leaked video recordings of an encounter with an underage girl led to his prosecution for child pornography in 2002, but he was acquitted in 2008. The 2019 documentary television series Surviving R. Kelly reexamined Kelly's alleged sexual misconduct with minors, prompting RCA Records to terminate his contract. Kelly was arrested in July 2019 on new charges brought by multiple jurisdictions. In 2021, he was convicted under the Mann Act and for racketeering. In 2022, Kelly was convicted of three child pornography charges and three charges of enticing a minor. He was sentenced to serve 31 years imprisonment in a combination of concurrent and consecutive sentences. As of 2023, Kelly is incarcerated at FCI Butner Medium I. He is scheduled for release on December 21, 2045, when he will be 78 years old.