Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois), who goes by the stage name of R. Kelly, is an American R&B singer- songwriter, rapper and record producer who first appeared on the R&B scene in 1992 and came to dominate it throughout the 1990s and in the current decade. A very successful hitmaker, his hits include "Bump & Grind" ( 1994), "I Believe I Can Fly" (1996), I'm Your Angel (1998), " Ignition Remix" (2003) and " Trapped in the Closet" (2005). Numerous pending allegations regarding his involvement with child pornography threaten to overshadow his fame as a musician.
Born into poverty and distress in Chicago's projects, young Robert Kelly and his two brothers and sister and mother Joanne struggled. After a shooting by a mugger as a teenager, Kelly looked to basketball and music to get him away from the atmosphere. Guided by his teacher Lena McLin, Kelly entered a career in music after singing the classic ballad, "Ribbon in the Sky" at a talent show to his high school friends.
By 1990, Kelly started to develop his sound playing his keyboards and becoming a street performer. He released his first single "Why You Wanna Play Me" with the group MGM on Tavdash Records in 1990. His manager at the time, David Hyatt, introduced him to Wayne Williams at Jive Records. Sometime around 1991 he met Barry Hankerson. Hankerson became his full time manager after David Hyatt was sentenced to life in prison for running a large midwest drug ring. In late 1991 Kelly was introducted to Aaliyah, and his then group Public Announcement recorded much of what would be "Born Into the '90s" at a recording studio Kelly leased. Within a few months, songs like "She's Got that Vibe", "Slow Dance", "Dedicated", and "Honey Love" would be the featured songs in Born Into the '90s, which was released several days after Kelly's 25th birthday in January 1992. A huge R&B success, the album would yield the featured songs as the hits and would eventually go Platinum selling over a million copies.