R. Kelly’s rise was meteoric, but his fall was disgraceful. At one time, Kelly was one of the most successful and popular singers and songwriters in R&B. But, he became one of the most well-known examples of a celebrity using his power to take advantage of others and as a result, he was convicted of nine counts of racketeering and sex trafficking and was sentenced to 30 years in prison because of it.
Here’s his rise and fall.
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Kelly’s debut album with Public Announcement, Born Into The 90s was released in January 1992 and a year later the album was certified platinum.
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The Chicago singer’s sophomore album 12 Play catapulted Kelly into superstardom with hit singles like “Sex Me” and “Bump N Grind.”
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While Kelly is 27 and Aaliyah is 15, the two get married secretly at a hotel in Chicago in 1994. The marriage was later annulled because Alliyah was not of age. Later that year, her debut album Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number was released. Kelly was the executive producer of the album. Aaliyah died seven years later in a plane crash at the age of 22.
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Kelly’s self-titled third album was released in November 1996 and became one of the most popular albums of the year thanks to the song “I Believe I Can Fly” which was featured on the soundtrack for the movie Space Jam. He went on to win three Grammys for the song and became a pop star from this point on.
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A video was released and sent to the Chicago Sun-Times by an unknown source and a story was published on February 8, 2002, the same day Kelly performed at the opening ceremony for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Later that year in June 2002, Kelly was indicted on 21 counts of child pornography in Chicago.
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The victim in the child pornography case refused to testify in court and a jury found Kelly not guilty on all counts of child pornography in June 2008.
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Jim Derogatis, a reporter for BuzzFeed News reported that Kelly was accused by multiple sets of parents of holding their daughter hostage in an “abusive cult.” The victims and Kelly denied the allegations. One of the most outspoken alleged victims was Joycelyn Savage who has both defended the singer and claimed she was a victim.
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In July 2019, Kelly was arrested on charges alleging sex crimes and obstruction of justice by investigators with U.S. Homeland Security and NYPD detectives. Shortly after, he was arrested again. Federal prosecutors in Chicago and New York indicted Kelly on a plethora of charges including child sexual exploitation, child pornography, sex trafficking, kidnapping, racketeering, forced labor and many others.
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During the federal trial in New York, Kelly’s attorneys made outlandish closing arguments in his defense including comparing him to Martin Luther King Jr., Hugh Hefner and Mike Pence.
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In September 2021, Kelly was convicted on one charge of racketeering and eight counts of violation of the Mann Act, a federal sex-trafficking law that criminalizes “the transportation of ‘any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.’”
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During his sentencing hearing, the disgraced signer was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He has since appealed his conviction and been moved to a federal jail in Chicago before his trial on child pornography and obstruction of justice charges.