R. Kelly’s musical accomplishments have been accompanied by an extended historical past of allegations that he sexually abused ladies and youngsters. Now the R&B singer has been sentenced in a New York federal courtroom to greater than 1 / 4 of a century behind bars.
And he nonetheless has a Chicago trial to face. The New York jury discovered him responsible in September.
Whereas Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, has vehemently denied the allegations, his accusers testified intimately that he subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims after they have been underage.
Kelly nonetheless faces a trial in Chicago on prices of kid pornography and obstruction of justice.
Here’s a timeline of Kelly’s life via his rise and fall as a hitmaking R&B artist:
— 1990: R. Kelly’s R&B group MGM wins the $100,000 grand prize on the syndicated tv expertise present, “Big Break,” hosted by Natalie Cole. Due to cash disagreements, that’s the final time the group carried out. Music government Wayne Williams of Jive Data discovers Kelly singing at a barbecue that summer season.
— January 1992: R. Kelly & Public Announcement debuts “Born Into The ’90s.” Launched a 12 months later, the album goes platinum.
— November 1993: His album “12 Play” is launched and finally sells greater than 5 million copies. Hit singles embody “Sex Me” and “Bump N’ Grind,” which grew to become the longest-running No. 1 R&B music in additional than 30 years.
— Aug. 31, 1994: At age 27, R. Kelly marries 15-year-old R&B singer Aaliyah D. Haughton. The couple weds in a secret ceremony organized by Kelly at a lodge in Chicago. The wedding is annulled months later due to Aaliyah’s age.
— September 1994: Aaliyah’s debut album, “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number,” which Kelly produced, is licensed platinum. (Aaliyah died in a aircraft crash seven years later, at age 22.)
Authorized knowledgeable Michael Bachner breaks down what the quick jury resolution meant for the R. Kelly trial, and what the responsible verdict means for his future authorized battles.
— November 1996: R. Kelly releases his third album, “R. Kelly.” A month later, he incorporates Rockland Data. His music “I Believe I Can Fly,” from the “Space Jam” soundtrack, peaks at No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. The identical 12 months, he marries 22-year-old Andrea Lee, a dancer from his touring troupe. The couple goes on to have three youngsters: Joanne, Jaya and Robert Jr.
— Feb. 18, 1997: Tiffany Hawkins recordsdata a grievance in opposition to Kelly alleging intentional sexual battery and sexual harassment whereas she was a minor.
— January 1998: Hawkins’ lawsuit is reportedly settled for $250,000.
— February 1998: Kelly wins three Grammys for “I Believe I Can Fly.”
— November 1998: His album “R.” hit shops. It has since offered 6 million copies.
— November 2000: His album “TP-2.com” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.
— August 2001: Tracy Sampson recordsdata a lawsuit in opposition to Kelly, alleging their intercourse was unlawful underneath Illinois legislation as a result of he was in “a position of authority” over her. The case was reportedly settled out of courtroom for an undisclosed quantity.
After R&B star R. Kelly was discovered responsible of 9 federal counts of racketeering and intercourse trafficking, lawyer Gloria Allred, who represented a number of of Kelly’s victims, spoke out concerning the heinous nature of his crimes, together with knowingly spreading genital herpes and utilizing little one pornography to blackmail his victims into compliance.
— Feb. 8, 2002: The Chicago Solar-Occasions reported that it obtained a videotape allegedly displaying Kelly having intercourse with a minor. The paper reported Chicago police started investigating allegations about Kelly and the identical woman three years earlier. On the time, the woman and her mother and father denies she was having intercourse with Kelly.
The identical day the information breaks, Kelly performs on the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake Metropolis.
— June 5, 2002: Kelly is indicted in Chicago on little one pornography prices stemming from the intercourse tape. He pleads not responsible and is launched on $750,000 bail.
— January 2003: Kelly is arrested at a Florida lodge on extra little one pornography prices after investigators mentioned they discovered images of him having intercourse with a woman. Fees are later dropped after the choose dominated police didn’t have a warrant to search Kelly’s home.
— Feb. 18, 2003: Kelly’s album “Chocolate Factory” is launched, promoting 538,000 copies in its first week.
— July 2005: Kelly’s seventh solo album, “TP.3 Reloaded,” hits No. 1 spot on the Billboard chart.
— September 2005: Andrea Kelly asks for an order of safety from her husband, accusing the singer of hitting her when she mentioned she needed a divorce.
— February 2006: R. Kelly’s brother, Carey Kelly, says his brother supplied him $50,000 and a file deal to say he was the individual on the intercourse video.
— Might 29, 2007: Kelly releases his album “Double Up,” which peaks at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart.
R. Kelly is responsible of racketeering and intercourse abuse. Erica Byfield reviews on how the colour and ages of his victims could have delayed justice.
— Might 9, 2008: Kelly’s little one pornography trial begins.
— June 13, 2008: Kelly is acquitted on all counts after lower than a full day of deliberations.
— Jan 8, 2009: Kelly and his former spouse, Andrea, verify they divorced after 11 years of marriage.
— July 12, 2011: Crain’s Chicago Enterprise reviews {that a} $2.9 million foreclosures is filed by JPMorgan Chase financial institution in opposition to Kelly’s suburban Chicago mansion. A spokesman claims the singer shouldn’t be having monetary hassle.
— March 21, 2012: Kelly introduced he’s reviving his video sequence, “Trapped in the Closet.” The mission begins as 5 movies for his dramatic cliffhanger songs in 2007, and finally grows to a number of dozen musical chapters coping with an online of sexual deceit. Kelly groups with IFC to premiere the previous and new sequence, and performs the rap opera at occasions corresponding to a sing-along at Bonnaroo. There was discuss of a Broadway present.
— June 15, 2012: The Chicago Solar-Occasions reviews Kelly owes the IRS greater than $4.8 million in again taxes.
— June 27, 2012: Kelly publishes his autobiography, “Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me,” specializing in his inventive and household life reasonably than his authorized troubles.
— Sept. 29, 2012: Kelly is nominated for 2 Soul Practice Awards, making him essentially the most nominated act ever on the awards present.
— March 18, 2013: Kelly’s mansion, as soon as valued at greater than $5 million, sells for $950,000 in a foreclosures public sale.
A jury discovered R&B star R. Kelly responsible on Monday on all counts of racketeering and intercourse trafficking.
— July 17, 2017: BuzzFeed reviews on mother and father’ claims that Kelly brainwashed their daughters and was retaining them in an abusive “cult.” One girl says she was with Kelly willingly. Following the BuzzFeed report, activists launched the #MuteRKelly motion, calling for boycotts of his music.
— Feb. 13, 2018: Kelly is evicted from two Atlanta-area properties over greater than $31,000 owed in unpaid lease.
— April 30, 2018: Time’s Up marketing campaign joins the #MuteRKelly social media marketing campaign and pushes for additional investigation into Kelly’s conduct. Kelly’s camp responds: “We will vigorously resist this attempted public lynching of a black man who has made extraordinary contributions to our culture.”
— Might 2018: Spotify cuts R. Kelly’s music from its playlists, citing its coverage on hate content material and hateful conduct. Shortly after, Apple and Pandora additionally cease selling his music. Kelly’s crew pushes again, noting different artists on Spotify had been accused or convicted of crimes.
— Might 21, 2018: Religion Rodgers, 20, recordsdata a lawsuit accusing R. Kelly of sexual battery, psychological and verbal abuse, and knowingly inflicting her with herpes throughout a yearlong relationship.
— Jan. 3, 2019: Lifetime airs the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” which revisited previous allegations in opposition to him and introduced new ones into the highlight. The sequence adopted the BBC’s “R Kelly: Sex, Girls & Videotapes,” launched the earlier 12 months, that alleged the singer was holding ladies in opposition to their will.
— Jan. 9, 2019: Woman Gaga says she’s going to take away duet with Kelly from streaming companies.
— Jan. 14, 2019: Religion Rogers says Kelly had written a letter the earlier October to certainly one of her attorneys, threatening to reveal embarrassing particulars of her sexual historical past if she didn’t drop her Might 2018 lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse.
— Jan. 21, 2019: A number of media shops reviews Kelly and his label, Sony subsidiary RCA Data, half methods. Kelly continues to deny all allegations of sexual misconduct.
— Feb. 6, 2019: Kelly broadcasts by tweet a brand new tour exterior the U.S., saying he’d be going to Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. The tweet was later deleted following backlash from Twitter customers who urged followers not to purchase live performance tickets.
— Feb. 14, 2019: Legal professional Michael Avenatti says he gave Chicago prosecutors new video proof of Kelly having intercourse with an underage woman, and that it isn’t the identical proof utilized in Kelly’s 2008 trial.
— Feb. 22, 2019: Kelly is arrested and charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse.
— Feb. 25, 2019: Kelly’s lawyer enters not responsible pleas on the singer’s behalf. Hours later, Kelly posts bail and is launched from jail in Chicago.
NBC New York
— March 6, 2019: CBS airs interview by which Kelly vehemently denied the sexual abuse prices in opposition to him. Later, authorities in Prepare dinner County take Kelly into custody after he tells a choose he couldn’t pay $161,000 in again little one assist he owed his youngsters’s mom.
— Might 30, 2019: Kelly is charged with 11 new sex-related counts in Chicago. They contain one of many ladies who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.
— July 11, 2019: Kelly is indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago on prices together with little one pornography, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice. A separate indictment filed within the Jap District of New York included prices of racketeering, kidnapping, pressured labor and the sexual exploitation of a kid. He’s once more arrested in Chicago.
— July 16, 2019: A federal choose orders Kelly held in jail with out bond after a prosecutor warned he would pose an excessive hazard to younger ladies if let loose.
— Aug. 2, 2019: Kelly pleads not responsible to federal prices accusing him of sexually abusing ladies and ladies who attended his live shows, as his attorneys proceed to label the alleged victims disgruntled “groupies.”
— Aug. 5, 2019: Kelly is charged in Minnesota with prostitution and solicitation associated to an allegation that he invited a 17-year-old woman to his lodge room in 2001 and paid her $200 to dance bare with him.
— Oct. 2, 2019: Kelly is denied bail in his New York Metropolis intercourse abuse case after a choose agreed with prosecutors that releasing him from jail would create a danger of him fleeing or tampering with witnesses.
— Dec. 5, 2019: Kelly is charged by federal prosecutors with paying a bribe in trade for a “fraudulent identification document” for an unidentified feminine a day earlier than he married R&B singer Aaliyah. He later pleads not responsible.
— March 5, 2020: Kelly pleads not responsible in Chicago to an up to date federal indictment that included little one pornography prices and allegations involving a brand new accuser, whereas prosecutors say extra prices alleging one more sufferer have been upcoming.
Explosive testimony got here from one of many important accusers, who claims she misplaced her virginity to the R&B star as a teen, after which he turned bodily abusive. A few of the singer’s former workers have been additionally anticipated to testify. NBC New York’s Erica Byfield reviews.
— Aug. 12, 2020: Federal prosecutors announce prices in opposition to three males accused of threatening and intimidating ladies who’ve accused R&B singer Kelly of abuse, together with one man suspected of setting hearth to a automobile in Florida.
— Aug. 14, 2020: Kelly’s supervisor is arrested in California on prices that he threatened a capturing at a Manhattan theater two years in the past, forcing an evacuation and the cancellation of the screening of a documentary addressing allegations that the singer had sexually abused ladies and ladies.
— July 24, 2021: Federal prosecutors in Kelly’s intercourse trafficking case say he had sexual contact with an underage boy as well as to ladies, and the federal government desires jurors in his upcoming trial to hear these claims.
— Aug. 18, 2021: Opening statements start in Kelly’s long-anticipated federal trial arising from years of allegations that he sexually abused ladies and ladies whereas pursuing fame and fortune.
— Sept. 27, 2021: The jury finds Kelly responsible of intercourse trafficking and violating the Mann Act, which makes it unlawful to take anybody throughout state strains “for any immoral purpose.”
— Oct. 20, 2021: A choose orders Kelly to stand trial in Chicago on little one pornography and obstruction of justice prices.
— Nov. 17, 2021: A person is sentenced to eight years in jail for setting hearth to a automobile in Florida what authorities say was an try to intimidate a possible witness within the intercourse trafficking trial.
— June 8, 2022: Prosecutors say Kelly deserves a minimum of 25 years behind bars for abusing youngsters and girls.
— June 29, 2022: Kelly is sentenced to 30 years in jail on racketeering and intercourse trafficking prices in Brooklyn federal courtroom.
— Aug. 15, 2022: Kelly is scheduled to stand trial in Chicago on little one pornography and obstruction of justice prices.