R. Kelly has long faced allegations of lurid sexual behavior and abuse, some of which have been made public through documentaries or court documents.
The R&B singer is once again heading to court, this time for a federal trial in New York stemming from years of sexual abuse allegations. He denies the allegations against him.
Here is a timeline of Kelly’s life, from his early days in Chicago through his rise and fall as an R&B artist:
— Jan. 8, 1967: Robert Sylvester Kelly is born in Chicago to Joann Kelly, a school teacher. R. Kelly is third of four children and lives with his family in Chicago’s housing projects. Little is known about his father.
— 1975: At age 8, Kelly begins singing in church.
— 1979: At age 12, Kelly said, he “experienced a lot of things at a very young age that I don’t know if I was supposed to,” including witnessing older youth rape one of his girlfriends.
— 1983: At age 16, his mother moves the family from the projects and enrolls her son at the prestigious Kenwood Academy, a Chicago public school.
— 1984: At age 17, his music teacher places him in a local talent show to perform a version of “Ribbon in the Sky,” a Stevie Wonder song. “That night it was like Spider-Man being bit. I discovered the power you get from being onstage,” he told Newsweek in 1995. In the years that follow, he performs in Chicago’s subway stations full time with his Casio keyboard, often pretending he was blind to avoid arrest.
— 1990: R. Kelly’s R&B group MGM wins the $100,000 grand prize on the syndicated television talent show, “Big Break,” hosted by Natalie Cole. Because of money disagreements, that is the last time the group performed. Music executive Wayne Williams of Jive Records discovers Kelly singing at a barbecue that summer.
