Post all news on R. Kelly's trial as opening statements are presumably to take place next week:

I'll start:

R. Kelly jury complete as sides argue racial makeup

By MICHAEL TARM, Associated Press Writer 44 minutes ago

CHICAGO - Jury selection was completed at R. Kelly's child pornography trial Thursday amid contentious exchanges between prosecutors and defense attorneys, who accused each other of trying to stack the panel along racial lines.

Of the 12 jurors who will open the case, eight are white and four are black. The four alternates include two blacks, one Hispanic and one white.

Defense attorneys objected several times as prosecutors used challenges to have several blacks dismissed from the jury pool.

"I think they're using these (challenges) to get rid of African Americans," said Sam Adam Sr., one of Kelly's attorneys. A little later, he complained that "they've used 50 percent of their challenges on African Americans."

Prosecutor Shauna Boliker shot back, telling the judge that the defense had "used all six of their preemptories (preemptory challenges) on whites."

The R&B superstar is accused of videotaping himself having sex with a girl as young as 13 years old.

Among the six jurors chosen Thursday was a young woman who told Judge Vincent Gaughan that she had been raped, but could put the traumatic experience aside and hear the case fairly.

Defense attorneys later asked to have her dismissed based on the rape, but Gaughan rejected the request. "She looked at Mr. Kelly and said she could give him a fair trial," the judge said.

Kelly mostly kept his head down at one end of a conference table while potential jurors were questioned, scribbling notes on yellow index cards in his lap. Between the sessions with each juror, Kelly stretched his arms and yawned.

But when one young man, later named as an alternate, told the judge that pictures don't always reveal the whole truth of a situation, Kelly looked up and nodded his head in agreement.

Another of the people to sit on the jury was a 68-year-old man who immigrated from Communist Romania 38 years ago. He praised the U.S. justice system, saying he understood the accused are presumed innocent.

"The score sheet at the beginning of the trial — zero, zero," he said.

One of the final two women chosen as alternates was a retired Cook County sheriff's deputy who worked in the same complex that the trial is taking place. She said she knew little about the Kelly case but could be fair.

The final alternate chosen was a black woman in her 40s who did not face extensive questioning from the prosecution, defense or judge.

Kelly, known for sexually charged hits like "Bump N' Grind," has pleaded not guilty. The alleged victim, now 23, says it wasn't her on the videotape.

I hope it will be fair

I don't see nothing wrong...with a little jail time.

I got Rrruh some going away presents...

a bottle of ranch dressing and some vaseline

Where do I send them?

lilgish said:

Maybe "She's Got That Vibe" is a song about his 15 year old conquests and their vibrator collection that Uncle R. Kelly bought them.

Opening statements begin Tuesday.
[Edited 5/15/08 17:38pm]

This trial reminds me of my jeep.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I feel like stepping in the name of a conviction.

Timmy84 said:

R. Kelly Jury is Complete: A Look at the 12 People Selected

Jury selection for R. Kelly’s golden shower trial was completed today. The 12 people chosen are a mixture of eight Whites and four Blacks; four alternates were also selected: two Black, one Hispanic and one White. R. Kelly’s lawyers complained that more Blacks weren’t on the jury. Pointing out that the prosecution challenged (therefore dismissed) half of the Blacks they had selected. The prosecution hit back, saying all of the defense challenges were about Whites.

But it wasn’t all race accusations and tension in the court room.

A 68-year-old Romanian man, said he believes in the justice system and the presumption of innocence.
In his eyes, on day one, the score is “zero to zero.”

R. Kelly mostly scribbled on yellow index cards. I’m guessing the words will turn up in a song in the not to distant future. When the Hispanic guy, selected as an alternate, told the judge that pictures don’t always tell the whole truth, R. Kelly nodded his head in agreement. He’ll be invited to the pool party if R. Kelly skates this.

Want the full jury profile? Check The Chicago Tribune’s “Gavel to Gavel”

The quick snip.

THE BIG TWELVE

The Romanian Immigrant.
68-year-old white man who immigrated to the United States 30 years ago. Knows Kelly is a singer but didn’t know the genre. Promised to be a diligent juror. “When I go to bed at night, I want to have a clear conscience,” he said. “I’m probably not the smartest guy, but I’ll do what’s best and fair.”

The Athletic Trainer.
White woman in her 20s. Works for a suburban high school and has a master’s degree.

The College Grad.
White man who recently graduated from a Midwest university. Has prior convictions for marijuana possession and underage drinking. Too young to remember O.J. Simpson’s trial, but said he followed NFL star Michael Vick’s dog fighting case.

The Vaguely Aware of Kelly Guy.
White man with only a slight idea of Kelly’s celebrity. Said he could put aside whatever he’s read about Kelly in the newspapers.

The Business Executive.
As the father of two young kids, he said child pornography is “as low as it gets.” The man, who is white, believes Kelly is guilty but promised to keep an open mind. Appears to be in his mid-30s.

The Pastor’s Wife.
She and Kelly both live in Olympia Fields, though the woman says she hasn’t heard much about him. The woman, who is black, is active in the Baptist church. Appears to be in her 50s.

The Christian.
A black man who appears to be in his 50s. Only knows Kelly for the song “I Believe I Can Fly,” though he suspects his kids may know more about him. Does not like to see pornographic material on public display.

The Student.
A white woman studying criminal justice in college. Hopes to be a cop someday. Only knows one or two of Kelly’s “old” songs. Appears to be in her early to mid-20s.

The Teacher’s Aide.
A black woman who works at a Catholic school. Says her friends have discussed the videotape at the center of the trial and are split about Kelly’s innocence. Some say he’s the man in the video, others insist it’s not him. Appears to be in her early 30s.

The Chef-in-Training.
A black man who is attending culinary arts school. He says he doesn’t know too much about the case. Appears to be in his late 30s or early 40s.

The Prolific Juror.
A white man who has served on juries in two civil lawsuits. Appears to be in his late 40s or early 50s.

THE ALTERNATES

The Young White Guy.
White male in his 20s who interned at a local radio station and applied to the Chicago Police Department before changing his mind. His uncle has been convicted of child pornography charges. Says he can still be fair.

The Apple Guy.
Young Latino male who works for Apple. Said he knows of the case but can put aside what he knows. Also won’t be upset by graphic images. “A picture can say 1,000 words but facts can/may be different,” he wrote on his questionnaire.

The Retired Deputy.
A 60-something retired Cook County sheriff’s deputy, sailed through questioning. Said she believes in following the rules. Told the judge she doesn’t like porn but can suffer through for the sake of justice.

The Last Woman.
Middle-aged black woman. Neither side had any strikes when the woman entered the jury room, so she answered a bunch a perfunctory questions and made the cut.

R. Kelly defense loses battles over jury

Stacy St. Clair
May 15, 2008 6:56 PM
Chicago Tribune / AP

CHICAGO - R. Kelly's defense team lost battles over the jury's racial makeup and the inclusion of a rape victim as jury selection concluded Thursday at the child pornography trial.

The singer's attorneys fought for a more racially diverse panel until the final juror but emerged with four blacks on the 12-member jury. Four of the jurors are women.

The defense team renewed its allegations that the prosecution was dismissing jurors based on race. Judge Vincent Gaughan denied the accusation, saying the state's attorneys had legitimate reasons for excusing the candidates.

Among the final jurors selected Thursday were a high school athletic trainer, a Romanian immigrant, a recent college graduate and a man who says he is vaguely aware of Kelly's celebrity. They will be part of a panel that includes a pastor's wife, a criminal justice student, a self-described Christian and a teacher's aide.

The 12 voting members and four alternates will hear evidence in Kelly's trial beginning with opening statements on Tuesday. The R&B superstar has pleaded not guilty to making a videotape that authorities say shows him engaging in sexual acts with a girl as young as 13.

In scrambling to keep the rape victim off the panel, Kelly's defense team said the juror's past trauma would make it impossible to be fair. The juror discussed the rape but said a grand jury never indicted anyone for the assault.

The juror acknowledged it would be hard to listen to a sex crime case but still thought she could be fair to Kelly.

''It would be really difficult but yes,'' the juror said.

Dressed in a pin-striped suit and patterned tie, Kelly looked sympathetically at the juror during the questioning. It was a rare moment for the singer, who typically appeared uninterested as he scribbled on post-it notes or fought off drowsiness during the selection process.

His lawyers, who have been working with a jury consultant throughout the questioning, asked the judge to excuse the juror from service.

''Given the nature of this prosecution, we would ask (the juror) be removed for cause,'' said Kelly's attorney, Edward Genson.

The judge denied the request, ruling the juror expressed a sincere desire to be fair. Prosecutors wanted the juror on the panel.

Without the judge's help, the defense could not bounce the juror from the panel because it had exhausted its seven peremptory strikes, which allow attorneys to remove candidates without explanation. When it became clear the juror would not be excused, Genson asked for an additional strike.

Gaughan wanted the grounds for the request.

''We've run out, and we need another one,'' Genson said.

The judge denied that request as well.

Juror interviews concluded Thursday with the selection of four full-fledged jurors and four alternates. Among the full-fledged members selected was a Romanian immigrant who spoke passionately about the American judicial system.

''When I go to bed at night, I want to have a clear conscience,'' said the man, 68. ''I'm probably not the smartest guy, but I'll do what's best and fair.''

The alternates would deliberate on the case only if other jurors drop out before the trial finishes.

In crossing swords with the prosecution over the jury's racial makeup, Kelly's attorneys objected to prosecutors using four of their seven challenges to remove minorities.

Gaughan also approved a request Thursday by prosecutors to remove a black man who lied about having spent time in jail. The man denied having a criminal history but later acknowledged a few run-ins with the law.

''Once again, it's another black juror they're trying to get rid of,'' said Sam Adam Sr., another Kelly attorney.

The Grammy winner's defense team initially accused the prosecution of targeting minorities for dismissal on the first day of interviews. The law prohibits attorneys from intentionally excluding jurors based on gender or race.

Gaughan suggested Thursday that the accusation was hypocritical, given that the defense team used all seven of its challenges on white candidates.

New songs

Homie Lawyer Friend
I'm A Perv
Trapped In The Toybox

More of R. Kelly's greatest hits:

I Believe I Can Pee
The World's Statutory Rapist (OK, so Mad TV already did it so what, lol)
Feelin' On Bubba's Booty
I Wish (Twon Wasn't Plowing Me Right Now)
Trapped In Solitary Confinement, Chapter 156
Half On a Kid
Home Alone (With Miley Cyrus)
Step in the Name of Piss
Molesta, Molesta (remix feat. DMX)
Get Up On (Tiffany's) Room
Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number (5+5+5=Legal To Me)
Seems Like The Younger Lohan Daughter's Ready
Rape Me (In Prison), Pts. 1 & 2
Cindy's Only FIVE, FIVE, FIIIIIVE!
I'm A Pedo
Same Girl (feat. Roman Polanski)
Gettin' Freaky In The Clubhouse
I'm a Child's Beast
Hair Pisser
You Remind Me of My 10-Year-Old Niece


[Edited 5/15/08 19:32pm]

Timmy84 said:

From last week's MTV site on the timeline leading up to the first day of the trial (May 9):

R. Kelly: A Timeline Of Events Leading Up To His Child-Pornography Trial, Which Finally Begins This Week

Trial's many delays have enabled singer to maintain a thriving musical career.

By Jennifer Vineyard

R. Kelly's child-pornography trial has followed a long and complicated course since news about the videotape, in which Kelly is allegedly depicted having sex with an underage girl, first broke in February of 2002. With the trial scheduled to begin on Friday, here's a look at key events surrounding the case.

For an in-depth explanation of the case, see "R. Kelly: When the Gavel Drops." For MTV News' 2002 interview with Kelly about the case, see "R. Kelly: In His Own Words."

January 8, 1967 — Robert Sylvester Kelly is born in Chicago, the third of four children.

1991 — R. Kelly meets manager Barry Hankerson's niece Aaliyah Haughton — she was 12 years old at the time. Kelly goes on to produce her 1994 debut, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number. This is also the year that Tiffany Hawkins claims that she began a sexual relationship with Kelly, and that he talked her into participating in group sex with other underage girls, according to her 1996 lawsuit. She was 15 at the time.

1994 — Kelly meets his future wife Andrea Lee when she auditions to be a dancer for the 12 Play tour (she was 20 at the time). However, he first marries 15-year-old Aaliyah — using a falsified marriage certificate that lists her age as 18 — in August.

1995 — Six months after the wedding, Aaliyah's marriage to Kelly is annulled in February when her parents find out; her uncle continues to work with Kelly.

1996 — Kelly marries Andrea Lee. In December, Tiffany Hawkins files suit against Kelly.

1998 — In January, Kelly settles Hawkins' suit for $250,000. In December, Kelly encounters 16-year-old Patrice Jones while she is out on her prom date, according to her 2002 lawsuit.

Somewhere between January 1998 and October 2000, Chicago prosecutors claim that Kelly made the sex tape at the center of the trial with an underage girl, his goddaughter, who they say was 14 at the time.

1999 — According to her lawsuit, Patrice Jones claims that in June she was pregnant, and that in September Kelly persuaded her to have an abortion.

2000 — In April, Kelly begins a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old record-label intern named Tracy Sampson, according to her 2001 lawsuit. In December, the Chicago Sun-Times publishes an article about the investigation and Kelly's "pattern of pursuing underage girls for sex." The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services launches a probe.

2001 — In August, Tracy Sampson files suit. Aaliyah dies in a plane crash at the age of 22.

2002 — In February, the Sun-Times receives the videotape at the center of the trial from an anonymous source — they give the tape to the police, who say the girl was 14 at the time. News of the tape breaks as Kelly is about to sing at the Olympics' opening ceremony; he proclaims his innocence in an interview with WMAQ-FM. By the end of the month, bootlegs of the tape are available on the streets and on the Internet.

In April, former Kelly protégée Sparkle identifies the girl on the tape as her niece, just as Kelly settles the Sampson suit for $50,000 and Patrice Jones files hers. In May, Kelly sits down with MTV to address the scandal, declaring, "I'm no monster." By the end of the month, a fourth woman settles with Kelly before filing a lawsuit, and a fifth, Montina Woods, sues for invasion of privacy, accusing him of secretly taping their of-age sexual encounter in his recording studio.

In June, Kelly is arrested in his Florida home on 21 counts of child pornography. He posts a $750,000 bond when he surrenders to Chicago authorities. Shortly after, he releases a song called "Heaven I Need a Hug." His brother Carey, concerned over rumors that the defense would suggest it was him on the tape, turns up at court to discuss it with R. Kelly.

2003 — In January, Kelly is arrested on 16 additional charges of child pornography in Miami when authorities say they found photos of a nude underage girl while searching his residence during the previous arrest. The Florida charges are later dismissed due to an anomaly in the search warrant. Despite Kelly's failure to phone his probation officer while shooting a video in January in Florida, Judge Vincent Gaughan overlooks protests from prosecutors and grants the singer permission to leave the state for two brief tours, one in August and one in October.

In January, Kelly makes his first major concert appearance since the scandal began at a radio concert in New Jersey, and releases his Chocolate Factory album the following month; it enters the Billboard albums chart at #1. He also releases a greatest-hits album, The R in R&B Collection, Volume 1, in September.

2004 — Kelly gets two victories — first, seven of the 21 counts against him in Chicago are dropped in February, due to misuse of the exact language in the law; two weeks later, the judge in his Florida case suppresses the photos that police found, causing the case to be dropped.

Bolstered by the mini-tours, Kelly asks the court in July for permission for a full-fledged outing, which he later announces as the Best of Both Worlds tour with Jay-Z. At the Chicago date, Kelly shows up two and a half hours after showtime and uses honey-colored showers and dancers clad in orange, mock-prisoner jumpsuits onstage, causing prosecutors to ask for a tape of the show. The next night's show in Cincinnati is canceled. Kelly leaves the stage midway through the St. Louis date after an argument about the lighting, and spends the rest of the evening working the drive-through at a McDonald's.

During the New York date in October, Kelly leaves the stage after announcing that two men in the audience threatened him with guns, and later claims he was also attacked with pepper spray. The tour falls apart as Kelly blames Jay-Z's entourage for the alleged attack, and sues him for sabotaging the tour.

In November, news of another sex tape surfaces — this one involving Kelly and Gary Sheffield's wife Deleon Richards, who admits to being involved with the singer 10 years earlier, when she was a teenager. A Chicago man is later found guilty of extorting Sheffield after demanding $20,000 from a sports agent to stop the release of the tape.

In May, Kelly is granted permission to travel and perform at New York radio station Hot 97's Summer Jam concert on June 12 in New Jersey; at the show he is insulted onstage by 50 Cent. In August, Kelly releases the double album Happy People / U Saved Me; the album debuts at #2 on the Billboard albums chart. Just two months later, he releases a joint album with Jay-Z titled Unfinished Business, which debuts at #1.

2005 — Jay-Z countersues in February, but a New York judge throws it out a few months later. Andrea Lee, Kelly's wife of nearly 10 years, seeks a restraining order against him in September, claiming he attacked her when she asked for a divorce. She later recants but moves out of their home.

Meanwhile, Kelly's popular "Trapped in the Closet" song and video series, which is rolled out in installments throughout 2005 and 2006, provides a comic — and popular — distraction from his legal woes. In July, he releases TP3.Reloaded, which debuts at #1.

2006 — Carey Kelly claims R. Kelly offered him $50,000, a record deal and a house in exchange for saying that he was the man in the sex tape at the center of the criminal case; Carey says he refused. In April, Jay-Z's cousin Tyran "Ty Ty" Smith confesses to pepper-spraying Kelly and four of his bodyguards at the New York Best of Both Worlds date.

In February, Kelly announces his Light It Up Tour, which begins the following month.

2007 — Despite being separated, Kelly's wife defends him in May, claiming he isn't the man in the sex tape, even though she said she hasn't seen it. Kelly's trial date is set for September 17, only to be pushed back when the main prosecutor gives birth.

Also in September, Kelly's longtime publicist Regina Daniels quits mysteriously after 14 years, saying that he "crossed a line" — she later claims Kelly had a sexual relationship with her daughter. A number of artists including Lupe Fiasco, Chris Brown, Swizz Beatz and T-Pain say they don't believe the case has done Kelly's career much harm.

In December, a fan snaps a picture of Kelly in court, only to get five days in the county jail. Kelly nearly gets jailtime himself, as the judge issues a bench warrant and nearly revokes his bond when he fails to show for a court date. Also in December, the trial receives a new start date: May 9, 2008.

Kelly releases a new album titled Double Up in May. The album becomes Kelly's sixth #1 debut on Billboard's albums chart. In August, he releases further installments of "Trapped in the Closet." And after initially denying through a representative that he was planning a fall tour, Kelly launches the Double Up trek in November, which stretches into January. Early in the tour, Kelly drops support act Ne-Yo, claiming paperwork problems, while Ne-Yo claims the reason for his ejection is because his performance was stronger than Kelly's.

2008 — Ne-Yo sues in January for breach of contract for being fired from the Double Up tour, while the judge orders Kelly to cancel a show so as not to miss a court appearance the following day. In February, Regina and George Daniels clarify that Kelly had a sexual relationship with their college-age daughter, whom the singer has known since she was 7.

On May 3, the Saturday before the trial is scheduled to begin, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that a woman will testify that she was involved in a three-way sexual encounter with Kelly and the girl in the videotape; the woman reportedly will testify that the girl in the videotape was underage at the time. On May 7, Kelly's lawyer Ed Genson asks for the trial to be delayed yet again "because of the torrent of publicity over the weekend," referring to the Sun-Times report. Prosecutors ask to respond to the request on Friday.

Don't miss "R. Kelly: When The Gavel Drops," airing on Sunday, May 11, at 2 p.m. ET on MTV2.

For full coverage of the R. Kelly case, see The R. Kelly Reports.

i hope this gives him more inspiration for Trapped In the Closet.

How can anyone not listen to Aaliyah's "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" (written and produced by Kells) with a straight face and NOT think R. Kelly loves the kids?

Even the cover of Aaliyah's debut is eerily:

LOL @ the last statement from NME.com:

R Kelly trial: Day Five

Jury is selected and ready to go

The jury has been selected in full in the trial of R. Kelly and opening statements will begin Tuesday (May 20) at 11am.

Kelly is standing trial on child pornography charges after he allegedly filmed himself having sex with a minor sometime between January 1998 and November 2000.

The jury is now made up of a 68 year-old male white Romanian immigrant, a white female athletic trainer in her 20s, a white male college graduate, a white male who says he’s only vaguely aware of R Kelly., a white father of two who already believes Kelly is guilty, a white student who hopes to become a cop, a white male who has served on two previous juries, and a white man who wears an ‘Impeach Bush’ badge on his backpack.

There are four black members on the jury: a pastor’s wife, a Christian male, a female teacher’s aide and a trainee chef.

The four alternates on the jury are a white male in his 20s, a young Latino male who works for Apple, a retired sheriff’s deputy, and a middle aged black woman.

Race was at the centre of the issues today when defense attorneys objected to minorities being struck off the panel. A black man and an Asian woman were removed from the jury after the man lied about previous run-ins with the law, and the woman revealed she has health problems.

The trial is expected to last one week. (Damn, they're not wasting any more time! )

Wow, I don't know why I didn't read this six years earlier! Interesting stuff here!

R. Kelly: Inspirational singer or perverted swinger?
Discovered at a barbecue, he hit it big — but some saw dark cloud over R. Kelly

June 9, 2002

BY JIM DeROGATIS and ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporters

Who is the real R. Kelly?

Is the R&B superstar the inspiring gospel preacher behind uplifting anthems such as "I Believe I Can Fly," "I Wish" and "The World's Greatest"?

Or is the South Sider the self-professed "sexual super freak" of raunchy bedroom shakers like "Bump N' Grind," "I Like the Crotch on You" and "Feelin' On Yo Booty"?

The answer is that 35-year-old Robert Sylvester Kelly is both, as well as a private, tormented individual who has been urged repeatedly over the last decade by friends and associates to seek help for what they call a "compulsion" to pursue underage girls, these sources have told the Sun-Times.

Since launching his career in 1992, Kelly has sold more than 23 million albums. If not a household name, he has nonetheless been hailed as the most important R&B singer, producer and songwriter of his generation — a familiar icon dressed in foreboding black leather and shades or a resplendent white suit with bowler hat and cane.

Last week, fans saw the 6-foot-3 Kelly looking small in a prison-issue orange jumpsuit, holding back tears as he appeared before a judge to pay the $750,000 bail that was set after he was indicted Wednesday on 21 counts of child pornography.

Law enforcement officials said the investigation is ongoing and more charges may follow. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services also has launched a probe into the family of the girl in the alleged child-porn tape. Whatever the coming weeks bring, one thing is certain: The sexual super freak and the gospel preacher have experienced a tragic fall from grace.

'I knew I had something'

The third of four children, Kelly was born in the South on Jan. 8, 1967. His family moved to Chicago when he was a toddler. His mother, Joann, was a teacher and a devout Baptist. Little is known about his father, who was missing through most of his youth.

The family lived for a time in the projects on 63rd Street, and later in a small house at 107th and Parnell. Kelly would return to this home some 25 years later, using the front porch as the setting in the video for "I Wish."

A shy, introspective and somewhat effeminate boy, Kelly often turned to his mother for protection when his two brothers teased and picked on him. He told Vibe magazine that he enjoyed eavesdropping on his mother, aunt and sister as they gossiped at the kitchen table as much as he enjoyed playing basketball with his brothers on the playground.

Former associates and family members say that he was abused as a child by an older man in the neighborhood, and this pushed his withdrawal from his male peers.

Kelly has often told the press that he was shot at age 13 when some thugs tried to steal his Huffy bicycle. But his mother told a former associate on her deathbed that her son had in fact invented the story to cover a suicide attempt. He reportedly still carries the bullet in his shoulder.

Music entered Kelly's life through his mother, who introduced him to the albums of her favorite soul singer, Donny Hathaway. "He had a sexual texture in his voice that I always wanted in mine," Kelly told the Sun-Times' Dave Hoekstra in 1994. "He had smooth, soulful tones, but he was spiritual at the same time."

In 1979, Hathaway committed suicide at age 33 by jumping off the 15th floor of the Essex House Hotel in New York. "I cried like a baby when I found out he passed away," Kelly said.

Aware of his sensitive nature, Joann worked hard to win Robert admittance to Hyde Park's prestigious Kenwood Academy. As a freshman there, he met the second woman who would became a major influence in his life, music teacher Lena McLin. The niece of gospel great Thomas A. Dorsey, McLin's other celebrated pupils include Chaka Khan and Da Brat.

McLin taught her students bel canto, a style of operatic singing that stresses vocal precision and evenness of tone. In the second week, she called on Kelly to sing at the front of the class. He did so reluctantly, but she recognized his talent instantly. "If they were ashamed of themselves, I'd make them stand in front of the mirror," she told Vibe. "I asked them, 'Do you think God made a mistake? He could've made you a roach!' "

McLin talked Kelly into wearing dark glasses and singing Stevie Wonder's 1982 hit "Ribbon in the Sky" at a high school talent show.

"That night it was like Spider-Man being bit," Kelly told Hoekstra. "I discovered this power. I knew I had something then."

'The eye of the tiger'

Kelly got poor grades at Kenwood, and he never graduated. Friends and former associates say he can barely read or do basic math, and he is extremely insecure about these shortcomings. But his innate musical talents provided the route out of poverty.

Accompanying himself on a portable Casio keyboard, Kelly performed for spare change on L platforms. One day he collected $400. He was singing at a backyard barbecue in Pill Hill when he was discovered by Wayne Williams, who ran the Midwest regional office of Jive Records.

"I was inside the house and Robert was performing outside," Williams recalled. "I saw this guy who had all the steps down, real choreographed. You could tell he put a lot into it, which is something you usually don't see, especially at a backyard barbecue. It was the eye of the tiger."

Kelly already had a manager, Eric Payton, but it was time for more powerful representation. Payton was bought out by Barry Hankerson, a major player in the black music world who has been married to Gladys Knight, produced shows on Broadway and continues to manage Toni Braxton, among others.

After revelations about the videotape prosecutors call child porn, Kelly said that "former managers" were trying to ruin him with damaging revelations. He refused to name his alleged enemies, saying that his lawyers have advised against it. Both Payton and Hankerson declined to be interviewed for this story.

In 1991, Kelly struck a deal with Jive, the label that would become home to 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. At the time, new jack swing and vocal groups such as Boyz II Men still ruled the R&B world, and it was decided that Kelly should be introduced to the public as part of a band.

His first album, "Born into the '90s," was credited to R. Kelly and Public Announcement — though he was front and center in the photos, produced the disc and took credit for all the lead vocals. By January 1993, a year after its release, the disc had sold a million copies.

"I thank my mother for her guidance and for being there for me through the good times and the bad," Kelly wrote in the liner notes. He also thanked "my music teacher and pastor," McLin, though he misspelled her name.

Kelly split from Public Announcement a short time later, and it was with his first solo album in November 1993 that he broke wide open. Propelled by the down and dirty single "Bump N' Grind," "12 Play" sold more than five million copies.

R. Kelly had arrived, but even before he officially became a millionaire, he was allegedly abusing the privileges of fame.

bChicagoan Tiffany Hawkins said in a lawsuit that she began having sex with Kelly in 1991, when she was 15, sometimes as part of group scenes involving other minors. The terms of the settlement forbid Hawkins from talking, but a friend who says she participated in group sex with Kelly and Hawkins when she was 16 (and who was prepared to testify about this at trial) said the star met the two girls for the first time when he returned to Kenwood to speak to McLin's choir class.

Sources say teachers at Kenwood warned students that Kelly often returned to "cruise" young girls. Asked about the Hawkins lawsuit in December 2000, McLin said, "I don't know what he did outside of school. But in the school, there was no hanky panky. If they were involved in that, the sad thing is, it takes two to tango."

Kelly's relationship with Hawkins ended in 1994, when she turned 18, according to her suit. She charged that Kelly had promised to help her career as a singer, and he never did. The split left her so devastated that she attempted suicide, she said.

Hawkins filed her suit on Christmas Eve 1996. Her attorney, Susan Loggans, had warned Kelly the suit was coming. In a preemptive strike, Kelly sued Hawkins first, charging that she was trying to blackmail him on paternity charges.

No evidence was ever presented for that claim. Hawkins' court papers never mentioned a paternity charge, and Kelly's claim was eventually dismissed. But Kelly's publicist leaked his side of the story to gossip columnists at the Sun-Times and the New York Daily News.

Hawkins was effectively discredited as a gold digger, and the damning allegations in her lawsuit were never reported anywhere in the press until a December 2000 story in the Sun-Times.

In 1996, a Kelly spokesman told the Daily News that the star would fight Hawkins' suit. "Many celebrities are constantly being harassed and sued, and more often than not, they decide to settle," he said. "Kelly has decided, 'No way.' "

But sources say Kelly reconsidered that hard-line position and paid Hawkins a quarter of a million dollars Jan. 23, 1998, just four days after she gave a 7 1/2-hour deposition about the singer's sexual proclivities. A party privy to that deposition (which has been sealed by the court) said the charges were "hair-raising."

"It all started to go wrong for Robert with that Hawkins case," said a friend of Hawkins' who worked as one of Kelly's dancers. "The brother's got problems, and he should have learned from the Hawkins case and got help for them."

'Nothing but a number'

Kelly met Aaliyah D. Haughton, a talented Detroit native and Hankerson's niece, when she was 12. In June 1994, when she was 15, she released her multiplatinum debut, which had been produced by Kelly.

In the title track, which Kelly wrote, Aaliyah sang, "Age ain't nothing but a number/Throwing down ain't nothing but a thang/This something I have for you, it'll never change."

Sources say that Kelly and Aaliyah had been having an intimate relationship for several months at that point, and that after his mother and McLin, Aaliyah was the only woman he has ever truly loved. "If he never loved anybody, he loved her," a former associate said. "If nothing else was genuine about him, his love for that young lady was, and I don't think her age had anything to do with it."

In a December 1994 interview, Aaliyah told the Sun-Times she never had a romantic relationship with Kelly. Kelly has always avoided discussing Aaliyah, but in December 2000, his spokeswoman, Regina Daniels, said, "Rob did date Aaliyah, yes he did, and he did have a relationship with Aaliyah, yes he did, and past that, unfortunately, it didn't work out."

On Aug. 31, 1994, Kelly surprised Aaliyah by taking her to a room at the Sheraton Gateway Suites in Rosemont. Waiting there were a minister, the Rev. Nathan J. Edmond, and a falsified marriage certificate listing Aaliyah's age as 18. It had been secured with fake I.D. by one of Kelly's assistants, sources said. Kelly was 27.

Edmond has refused to speak about that day, but a certificate on file with the Cook County clerk says that he pronounced the star and his young protege man and wife. Family members say Aaliyah thought it was all an elaborate "game," and she just went along with it. Within hours, she realized what had happened, and she went to her family and sought their help.

The family separated the couple, and Aaliyah never saw Kelly again. The marriage was annulled a few weeks later in Detroit, where records have been sealed.

Revelations of the marriage caused a public scandal in 1994, and several publications printed the marriage certificate. But while Illinois law makes it illegal for adult men to have sex with girls under 17, police and prosecutors never investigated.

Aaliyah went on to work with other producers, including Timbaland, and to launch a successful career as an actress. She died in a plane crash Aug. 25, 2001.

"Aaliyah's gone. and I have a lot of respect for Aaliyah and her parents," Kelly said in an interview with BET last month. "I really don't think it's fair to say anything doing with Aaliyah, because I really don't think Aaliyah deserves that."

'Like a real freak'

The Aaliyah scandal did not hurt Kelly's career. In September 1995, the single he produced for Michael Jackson, "You Are Not Alone," became the first No. 1 hit for the King of Pop since his own well-publicized sex scandal. (Jackson paid a reported $15 million to the family of a 13-year-old boy with whom he'd allegedly had sexual relations.)

Kelly also produced hits for Celine Dion (the No. 1 smash "I'm Your Angel") and Toni Braxton ("I Don't Want To"). In November 1996, he released his third album, titled simply "R. Kelly." The next month, he scored his biggest hit.

"I Believe I Can Fly" was included on the soundtrack of "Space Jam," the children's film co-starring a live-action Michael Jordan and an animated Bugs Bunny. Kelly has claimed to be a personal friend of Jordan's, but a former associate says they were never close. "Michael would not ever show up to where he told Robert he would be," the associate said. "I don't think they ever got in each other's presence but once or twice."

An uplifting anthem driven by a gospel choir, "I Believe I Can Fly" offers the inspiring message that with faith in oneself, any obstacle can be overcome. "See I was on the verge of breaking down/Sometimes silence can seem so loud/There are miracles in life I must achieve/But first I know it starts inside of me," Kelly sang.

The tune hit No. 2 on the pop charts, won three Grammys, and became a staple at weddings, high school proms and church services.

"Sex is not the most important thing in my life — I get as much satisfaction from preaching to kids as anything else," Kelly told the Voice. But he continued to sing about earthier concerns as well.

"Get in the club 'bout twelvish/Me and my homies hoochie huntin'," he sang on "Hump Bounce." Onstage, he would feign intercourse with his dancers during "Like A Real Freak." Then, moments later, he'd introduce "I Wish," dropping to his knees to offer a tearful prayer to his mother, who died from cancer in 1993.

Many fans found these abrupt shifts between the transcendent and the venal, the inspirational and the X-rated jarring. And friends and associates say Kelly's devotion to his family was largely an act.

When Joann Kelly was dying, she had to check into the hospital under an assumed name because she could not pay her medical bills, two Kelly associates said. They added that long after her son had become a millionaire, his mother drove an old beater that she had to hot-wire to start.

Kelly has been estranged from his brothers for years. In a recent interview with Chicago radio personality Doug Banks, one brother, Keri Kelly, said he had never been to the house in Lake View where Robert lived for six years. (Kelly sold the George Street home, the alleged scene of the child-porn tape, for $2.25 million in April, several weeks after the existence of the tape was reported by the Sun-Times.)

While the singer portrayed his sister as lovingly braiding his hair in the video for "I Wish," associates say she worked as his housekeeper for several years, earning $400 a week.

Onstage, some of Kelly's handlers tried to remake him "Pygmalion"-style into a smooth and suave soul man like his hero, Hathaway. But the image he liked to project was that of the "R&B Thug" (to borrow the title of another of his songs), bringing the streetwise persona of the gangsta rapper into the more polite world of R&B.

Kelly was never as tough as he pretended to be. In July 1996, he and members of his entourage were involved in a fight with three men on a basketball court in Lafayette, La. The star spent several hours in jail, and associates say the experience left him a mental and physical wreck.

He vowed that he would never again do time behind bars.

The singer's personal habits are crude. He often goes days without showering, friends and associates say. He told Vibe magazine he often wears the same pair of pants three days in a row. But his magnetism and fame are such that countless women are drawn to him.

"He is a master manipulator," said one woman who had a relationship with Kelly when she was 17. (She asked that she not be identified.) This woman and three former Kelly associates said the star was adept at making young women think they were the center of his universe, and he often alienated them from friends and family members.

"He will sit at the piano and write a song for you right there on the spot, and women will just melt for him," said a former personal assistant.

In 1996, Kelly married the former Andrea Lee, a 22-year-old dancer from his touring troupe. The couple now have two daughters and a son, Robert Jr., who was born just a few weeks ago.

People in the singer's camp reportedly call Lee "Puppydog," and Kelly associates say she is required to knock before entering a room in their house if he is at home hanging out with friends.

Kelly's sexual pursuits did not come to a halt after the marriage.

One of Kelly's former personal assistants, who spoke to the Sun-Times on the condition that he not be named, said that he split with the star in the mid-'90s because of the Aaliyah incident, and because Kelly continued to seek out underage girls, some as young as 14.

Kelly's approach (which several sources said was typical) was described by a Los Angeles woman he seduced in 1999, when she was 17.

She had visited the set of the video shoot for "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time," and one of Kelly's assistants pressed something into the palm of her hand.

The singer had written his cell phone number on a tiny balled-up piece of paper. She called, and a relationship began.

Despite the scandal involving his niece, Hankerson remained as Kelly's manager for several years, but they split in 1998. Sources said Hankerson could not abide by his client's behavior, and that he agreed to waive money owed him if Kelly sought psychiatric help. The star refused.

Two other former associates say they also urged Kelly to get help for what they called "an ongoing compulsion." But when they approached the star with these concerns, he refused to listen to them. Both eventually split from Kelly.

Kelly's label, Jive Records, was named as a party in the Hawkins lawsuit in 1996, and Kelly associates reportedly warned label head Clive Calder about Kelly's behavior in 1998. Calder was traveling in Europe last week and could not be reached. Jive issued this statement: "R. Kelly has been with Jive Records for 11 years and we fully support him and his music."

Damning video evidence

Kelly's fifth album, "TP-2.com," debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart in November 2000. That same month, the star was honored by the Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, receiving one of its first Legacy Awards for philanthropic efforts on behalf of the community. Kelly has given generously to numerous charities, though the Rev. James Meeks, his spiritual adviser, says the star has never donated to Meeks' Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.

A few weeks later, in December 2000, the Sun-Times first exposed Kelly's pattern of pursuing underage girls. At the time, the Special Investigations Unit of the Chicago Police had been probing the singer's behavior for two years.

Kelly apparently continued to cavort with minors even after the Sun-Times story, court papers allege. In the second of three civil suits filed against the star by Loggans, Tracy Sampson, a 17-year-old intern at Epic Records and a student at Columbia College, said Kelly promised to help her career as a rapper and coerced her into a sexual relationship that began in April 2000 and continued through March 2001.

As he had with Hawkins, Kelly settled this suit, paying Sampson an undisclosed sum of money. The star also settled with a third girl represented by Loggans. In that case, the payment was made even before the lawsuit was filed. The settlement agreement prohibits Loggans from revealing any details about the case, but the plaintiff was an underage girl from Minneapolis, sources said.

In early 2001, several weeks after the first expose, the Sun-Times received an anonymous videotape that appears to depict Kelly and a young light-skinned black girl having sexual relations in a wood-paneled sauna room. Sources said Kelly had two identical rooms in his houses on George Street and in Olympia Fields. The tape was given to police, who have yet to determine the girl's age and identity.

A second, far more damning tape surfaced a year later, in February 2002.

This second videotape, which was also sent anonymously to the Sun-Times, was 26 minutes and 39 seconds long. It depicts a man, apparently Kelly, engaging in numerous sexual activities including urination with a 14-year-old girl, who was identified for the Sun-Times by her aunt.

Hours after receiving the tape, the Sun-Times turned it over to police, who promptly began investigating.

Last Wednesday, based on this second video, Kelly was indicted on 21 counts of videotaping and producing child pornography and enticing a minor to participate in child pornography.

In an interview with BET on May 8, Kelly said he is not the man in the tape. Last week, his criminal defense attorney, Ed Genson, declined to say whether the man is Kelly. Instead, he said he would prove in court that the girl in the tape was over 18.

Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine said the tape was authenticated by the FBI Crime Lab in Quantico, Va., and experts there said it is not a forgery. The quality of the original tape is crystal-clear, and the man who appears to be Kelly pauses several times in the action to adjust the camera angle.

The girl and her parents told the grand jury that she is not the girl in the tape. But the jurors heard from about 50 witnesses, including the girl's aunt, who identified Kelly, the girl, or both.

Months before the grand jury was impaneled, the girl's aunt said she thinks Kelly paid a cash settlement to the girl and her parents. Genson said no such settlement has been made. DCFS said Friday that it has reopened a probe of the girl and her family.

Kelly's world crumbles

Kelly will appear in court June 26 to face child pornography charges. Meanwhile, police and prosecutors say the investigation continues. Charges of sex with a minor are also being considered, and new evidence is being examined. Kelly also faces two ongoing civil suits.

For weeks before the indictment, several variations of a bootleg R. Kelly sex tape were available on street corners across America, as well as on the Internet — $10 for VHS, $15 for DVD.

Most of these tapes compile three scenes: the first tape sent to the Sun-Times with the girl who remains unidentified; a second scene with Martina Woods, an adult dancer who tours with Kelly friend and collaborator Ronald Isley, and the third, 26-minute videotape described in the indictment.

Police Supt. Terry Hillard warned Wednesday that anyone owning or selling one of these tapes has child pornography, and is subject to prosecution.

Two weeks ago, Woods sued Kelly for $50,000, saying she was unaware that she was being videotaped when she had sex with the singer at Chicago Trax Recording Studio.

A fourth woman represented by Loggans, Patrice Jones, also filed suit in late April alleging that she had sex with Kelly between 20 and 30 times before her 17th birthday. Kelly has vowed not to settle this case. "The ATM is closed," his longtime civil attorney Gerald Margolis said.

Loggans is representing a fifth woman with allegations against Kelly, and yet another lawsuit is pending.

Even before the indictment was announced last week, Kelly's peers in the music world had begun to distance themselves, with artists such as Dr. Dre, Nas, Sisqo and P. Diddy speaking against him. Kelly's last album, a joint effort with chart-topping rapper Jay-Z, was a commercial flop because Jay-Z refused to tour, make a video, or do any interviews with Kelly after revelations about the videotape.

After the child pornography charges surfaced, several radio stations across the country pulled Kelly's music from their play lists.

Kelly said Friday he eagerly awaits his day in court. But none of the associates who broke from his camp in the last few years are optimistic about the outcome.

Said one of Kelly's former personal assistants: "I really don't want to see him go to jail; I really don't. He should have confessed all of this when he had the chance and gotten some help."

The former dancer said: "I don't want him to go to jail, but there has got to come a point when you take responsibility for your actions, and that time has come."

In the song "I Wish" from his last solo album, the gospel preacher seemed to predict the day that has now arrived for the sexual super freak. "And now you hear my songs the radio is playin'," Kelly sang. "Oh I can't believe my ears and what everybody's sayin'/Boy, I tell you folks don't know the half."

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Funny how a year after this, people were back to kissing his ass since the trial kept getting delayed. The backlash may just come back again.

That's a interesting read.. I always thought that he might have been abused,
It's really sad that they couldn't get this dude some help a long time ago, and i had no idea that he was sued and settled with so many Women

I don't give a fuck if he was abused or not. It seems to me if someone was so shattered because someone did that to them, they wouldn't think twice about doing it to someone else. I hope they bury his ass under the jail.

Timmy84 said:[quote]How can anyone not listen to Aaliyah's "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" (written and produced by Kells) with a straight face and NOT think R. Kelly loves the kids?




whachu mean? kellly luuuuuvs the kids (so does michael jackson)

ehuffnsd said:

trapped in the closet? how about keep it in the closet? soon it maybe-- in the closet?

Stymie said:

A lot of the abused go on to abuse others, And i'm not saying it's right
but that has been proven to be a fact.
[Edited 5/16/08 6:25am]

ehuffnsd said:

Yeah, a new song called "Trapped in a Jail Cell".

And I might add after reading that article, a whole bunch of people should be
charged with some type of crime like endangering the welfare of a minor, because it seems that a lot of people knew what he was doing and they allowed it to happen.. you got people from the school warning the kids about him cruising for young girls, you got handlers passing his cell phone numbers to minors

Timmy84 said:

No "I'm Your Anal"?

banks said:

I agree with every word. Barry Hankerson should be locked up.

banks said:

Sad but true.

As nasty as the Aaliyah relationship might have been... I still think R. Kelly's finest work was her album, and I still love it. You can tell he loved her with the work on that album.

Aaliyah was a year older than me so I had difficulty seeing what was so inappropriate at the time when the debut was hot. My sister was telling me the idea behind the title track made her just cringe.