R & B 乐界霸主R. Kelly（罗凯利）美国告示排行流行榜/R & B榜冠军专辑《巧克力梦工厂》收录美国电台冠军单曲“Ignition”及混音版全球《甜蜜双CD限量珍藏版》加收6首超甜美单曲罗凯利，R & B音乐界的霸主，他的专辑销售全球超过2千万张，他得过四座葛莱美奖、四座美国告示排行榜的奖项、3座灵魂列车音乐奖项，并在连续6年内得到BMI(Broadcast Music, Inc.)音乐创作奖，而且他也是90年代R & B流行音乐界中获得最多冠军单曲的男艺人。罗凯利的音乐总是能深刻的打动人心，他的创作里有70年代情歌的元素，并用90年代的抒情叙诗手法表现，给了R&B音乐全新的风貌，他的音乐一直都备受R & B界的音乐歌手及歌迷所推崇及喜爱，在最近2003年所发行的这一张新专辑”巧克力梦工厂/Chocolate Factory”也在发行的首周即攻下排行榜冠军。罗凯利的创作不仅为他自己奠定R&B乐界万王之王的地位，也为其他流行歌手创下音乐生涯的高峰，如Michael Jackson的“You Are Not Alone”、Toni Braxton 的“I Don't Want To”、Celine Dion的等。
1967年1月8日诞生于芝加哥贫民区的罗凯利，童年并不顺遂，在他儿时的记忆中，父亲的印象并不深刻，从小父亲便离开他的身边，由母亲扶养长大。小时候的志愿是成为一个有名的篮球选手，但在十三岁那年骑脚踏车经过一个蛮荒的郊区时，不良少年为了抢脚踏车而用枪击中了罗凯利的肩膀，因此他的篮球梦碎了，至今还有一部份的子弹留在罗凯利的体内。然而也让罗凯利走向另一项才华的道路-音乐。
高中时罗凯利加入了合唱团，在那里遇见了他一生中最敬爱的女老师，并启发了他对音乐的热爱及音乐上的才能，罗凯利以土法炼钢的方式练习弹琴，坐在钢琴前，用自己的听力弹出音乐。之后他凑钱买了一台Keyboard，并带著它四处旅行。"嗯...这开始就像个笑话一样。我和伙伴们就在街头表演。"罗凯利回忆说道： "其中一位伙伴在我弹Keyboard时，把帽子放在地上，而路人开始纷纷把钱放进来，结果这成了我们的工作。我现在只是把这件事扩大成我的事业。" 他们在芝加哥的街头吸引了众多的听众围观，但也惹来不少警察来阻挠取缔。然而没有任何事可以浇熄罗凯利对音乐的狂热。终于，罗凯利成为地方一个流行R&B团体MGM的一员，并在高收视率电视节目"Big Break"中演出，广受好评。
1991年罗凯利的音乐生涯重要时刻，与JIVE唱片签约。之后罗凯利在录音室中潜心创作，同年发行第一张出道专辑《活在90年代/Born Into The '90s》。这张代表灵魂音乐与摇摆(Swing)音乐的专辑，深深影响R&B界，并在美国创下白金唱片的佳绩，并拥有两首冠军单曲“Honey Love”、“Slow Dance”。罗凯利挟带著在美国的佳绩进攻英国市场，几场在英国Hammersmith Apollo的演唱会门票全部销售一空，专辑也在英国创下金唱片佳绩。1993年，罗凯利发行了第二张专辑《12出戏/12 Play》。《12出戏/12 Play》专辑中的其中三首单曲“Your Body's Calling”、“She's Got The Vibe”、“Bump And Grind”皆攻下美国告示牌排行榜单曲冠军宝座，专辑也冲向R'n'B专辑榜冠军，此张专辑在排行榜上整整停留了100个星期，成了罗凯利第二张白金唱片专辑，总销售超过5百万张。
1995年，第三张同名专辑《罗凯利/R. Kelly》的出现象徵著罗凯利个人音乐创作生涯迈向了第一个成熟的阶段，并将罗凯利在R&B乐界的成绩推向一个高峰，这张专辑同时拥有3首排行冠军白金单曲及多首TOP 5单曲，并获得5白金的认证，同时罗凯利也开始尝试在音乐制作上有所突破，像为珍娜杰克森的重新混音，而让人印象最深刻的是他替Michael Jackson创作的冠军单曲“You Are Not Alone”，这首畅销全球的冠军单曲，也打响了罗凯利全球知名度。之后两年中间，罗凯利也为Luther Vandross、Changing Faces、Mary J. Blige、Toni Braxton等人制作了不少脍炙人口的歌曲。
1997年，罗凯利为电影《怪物奇兵》所作的主题曲“I Believe I Can Fly”再度将他的地位推至无人可比的境界，光是单曲的销售量便超过了五百万张，除此之外也为他获得了第40届葛莱美奖“年度最佳电影主题曲”、“年度最佳R&B单曲”以及“年度最佳R&B歌手”等三项大奖。在英国，不但获得白金唱片，另一首单曲(电影 "Batman Forever"主题曲)也打入了英国金榜TOP 10。
1998年秋天，罗凯利发行了第四张专辑，收录了30首罗凯利一千多个日子以来所精心淬炼出来的作品，从作曲、作词、编曲到制作，罗凯利完全不假他人之手，其中包括了与饶舌歌手Keith Murray合作的、与席琳狄翁合唱的、攻进排行榜前20名的以及销售超过1百万张的白金抒情单曲“If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time”，这张专辑不但连续在榜上75周创下销售超过6百万的佳绩，并为罗凯利赢得了99年的美国告示牌音乐奖的年度最佳节奏蓝调/嘻哈艺人、灵魂列车音乐奖的最佳节奏蓝调/灵魂专辑(男歌手) 及全美音乐奖的 最佳灵魂/节奏蓝调男歌手。
在2000年底发行，被R&B乐界簇拥为伟大的巨作，堪称是一张代表罗凯利在R&B乐界的全新代表作，由罗凯利一手包办创作及制作的曲风呈多元化，除了R&B基调外，还有CLUB JAMS、SOULSUL GROOVES以及罗凯利式的抒情曲。在里的创作灵感都是来自于罗凯利及他的歌迷生活周遭，每一首歌里都可以感受到一个真实的生活故事。这张专辑一推出即登上美国告示牌排行榜流行专辑榜及R&B专辑榜的双料冠军并已突破双白金的销售成绩，并入围了多项音乐大奖，并获得第15届灵魂列车音乐奖的年度最佳男歌手节奏蓝调/灵魂专辑、最佳节奏蓝调/灵魂歌曲 "I WISH"以及第32届影像音乐大奖的最佳男艺人和最佳音乐录影带"I WISH"，为罗凯利的得奖纪录再添一笔。
2003年，罗凯利再度以他最迷人的R & B及嘻哈音乐教父之姿再度出击，他个人一手包办了新专辑所有歌曲的词曲创作及制作。最新专辑《巧克力梦工厂/Chocolate Factory》以甜蜜优美的旋律征服了歌迷，首支单曲为全美电台最爱播放的歌曲，专辑首周发行更夺下告示排行榜冠军，同时也被乐评人赞誉为他历年来创作最好的一张专辑，新专辑更破天荒超值收录了两张CD，第一张CD收录了“Ignition”的原曲及混音版之外，另外一张加值CD收集6首单曲包括了“The World’s Greatest”及“Heaven I Need A Hug”等，对于喜欢罗凯利的歌迷朋友们而言，漫长的等待是值得的，因为罗凯利把这两年最佳的音乐创作完整的收集呈现给所有歌迷朋友们
Urban R&B producer/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist/songwriter R. Kelly and his supporting band Public Announcement began recording in 1992 at the tail end of the new jack swing era, yet he was able to keep much of its sound alive while remaining commercially successful. While he created a smooth, professional mixture of hip-hop beats, soul-man crooning, and funk, the most distinctive element of Kelly's music is its explicit carnality. He was able to make songs like "Sex Me," "Bump n' Grind," "Your Body's Callin'," and "Feelin' on Yo Booty" into hits because his production was seductive enough to sell such blatant come-ons. As his crossover success broadened, Kelly also developed a flair for pop balladry that helped cement his status as one of the biggest-selling male artists of the '90s.
Kelly and Public Announcement released their debut album, Born Into the 90's, at the beginning of 1992. It was an instant R&B smash, while earning a fair amount of pop airplay; "Honey Love" and "Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)" were number one R&B hits, while "Dedicated" was his biggest pop hit at number 31. 12 Play, released in the fall of 1993, established Kelly as an R&B superstar, eventually selling over five million copies. The first single, "Sex Me, Pts. I & II," went gold, and the second, "Bump n' Grind," hit number one on both the pop and R&B charts in 1994; it stayed on top of the R&B charts for an astonishing 12 weeks, while logging four weeks at number one the pop charts. The follow-up, "Your Body's Callin'," was another gold single, peaking at number 13 pop. Also in 1994, he produced Age Ain't Nothing But a Number, the hit debut album for then 15-year-old Detroit R&B singer Aaliyah. Late in the year, it was revealed that Kelly and Aaliyah had wed in August and gotten an annulment shortly thereafter. The news sparked a small storm of controversy in the media, yet it didn't hurt the careers of either singer. Kelly next wrote and co-produced "You Are Not Alone," the second single from Michael Jackson's HIStory album, which was released in the summer of 1995. Later that year, Kelly released a self-titled album which became his first to top the pop charts. R. Kelly sold four million copies and produced three platinum singles — "You Remind Me of Something," "Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)," and "I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)" — all of which hit number one R&B and reached the pop Top Ten.
Kelly truly consolidated his crossover success with the 1996 single "I Believe I Can Fly," which he recorded for the Michael Jordan movie Space Jam. Transcending Kelly's prior sexed-up image, the song reached number two on the pop charts and won Grammy Awards for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television. Kelly remained in the public eye in 1997 with another Top Ten soundtrack tune, Batman & Robin's "Gotham City." The ambitious two-disc R. followed in 1998, and even though it downplayed the explicit lover-man routine that had made him a star, it became Kelly's biggest-selling album yet, going platinum seven times over. Its first single, a duet with Celine Dion titled "I'm Your Angel," became Kelly's second number one pop hit with a six-week run on top. Even though subsequent singles "When a Woman's Fed Up" and "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time" were more successful on the R&B charts, Kelly was well on his way to landing more Top 40 hits in the '90s than any other male solo artist, and notched another with his guest appearance on Puff Daddy's R&B chart-topper "Satisfy You." Moving his blockbuster success into a new decade, Kelly returned in 2000 with TP-2.com, which spent three weeks at number one on the album charts and scaled back the ambition of R. to return to familiar lyrical themes. He scored two more R&B number ones with "I Wish" and "Fiesta" (the latter featuring guest Jay-Z), and had further hits with "Feelin' on Yo Booty" and "The World's Greatest," the latter from the soundtrack of the Will Smith film Ali.
In the wake of "Fiesta," Kelly and Jay-Z teamed up to record an entire album together. The Best of Both Worlds was heavily hyped and even more heavily bootlegged, but problems of a much more serious nature arose in February 2002, when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that it had been given a videotape showing Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl. When the scandal broke, other reports surfaced that Kelly had settled a civil suit in 1998 involving a sexual relationship with a then-underage girl, and that he was in the process of settling another suit brought by an Epic Records intern making similar allegations. Copies of the tape in question were sold as bootlegs and on the Internet, and while there was some question as to whether the man was really Kelly, and whether the girl really was underage, Kelly's past history seemed to lend credence to the charge. Some radio stations dropped him from their play lists, and anti-Kelly protests were staged in Chicago. Meanwhile, The Best of Both Worlds entered the charts at number two, but sold disappointingly; some blamed the scandal, others the extensive pre-release bootlegging, although the generally unfavorable reviews suggested that the record's overall quality might also have been to blame.
Following the initial sex-tape scandal, Kelly was dogged by numerous civil suits, including one from a girl who alleged that during her relationship with Kelly (which occurred while she was underage), she had become pregnant and gotten an abortion at the singer's urging. A variety of other sex videos purporting to feature Kelly appeared as bootlegs, and a onetime Kelly protégée, a singer called Sparkle, stepped forward to identify the girl on the original tape as her then-14-year-old niece. In June, Chicago police officially charged Kelly with 21 counts of child pornography-related offenses, all related to the original tape. Kelly pleaded not guilty and released a new song, "Heaven, I Need a Hug," which got extensive airplay for a brief period.
Meanwhile, work on his next album, Loveland, stalled amid more heavy bootlegging. Kelly eventually scrapped some of the most pirated tracks, recorded some new songs, and reassembled the album as Chocolate Factory (which was slated to include a bonus disc with some of the deleted material). Released in advance of the album, lead single "Ignition" shot to number one on the R&B charts in late 2002. Chocolate Factory itself was released in early 2003, and followed in 2004 by Happy People/U Saved Me. Surprisingly, despite reports of a feud with Jay-Z, later in 2004 another album was released from The Best of Both Worlds sessions. Weeks before his child pornography trial the following year, TP.3 Reloaded was released, featuring the first five chapters of his soapy "Trapped in the Closet" saga. Double Up followed (in 2007), but not before a remix collection titled Remix City, Vol. 1.
