American record producer, singer/songwriter, actor, as well as music executive and rapper Robert Sylvester Kelly, was born on 8 January 1967, in Chicago, Illinois. Better known by his simpler stage name of R. Kelly, he has been in the music industry since his debut in 1992 as a member of the R&B group “Public Announcement”. Soon Kelly became known for such hit songs as “The World’s Greatest”, “I Believe I Can Fly” and “If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time”. Kelly then switched his career path to record producing, and helped Aaliyah as well as Michael Jackson among many other artists with their releases.
As a well-known singer and producer, how rich is R. Kelly then? According to authoritative sources, R. Kelly’s net worth is estimated to be over $150 million, as of early 2017, perhaps unsurprising considering in 2014 album sales of “Black Panties” were estimated to be over $350,000 from the same number of copies sold. The majority of R. Kelly’s wealth comes from the music industry.
R. Kelly Net Worth $150 Million
Kelly sang with the church choir from age eight, so when attending Kenwood Academy, with the encouragement of his teacher he performed in a talent show hosted by the school. Inspired to become a singer, R. Kelly began performing on the streets, and joined the Chicago “L” group, but eventually created his own band called “MGM” with whom he even released a single. The band’s big break came in 1989 when they participated in a television show actually called “Big Break”, with Kelly going on to win the grand prize. MGM disbanded soon after and Kelly continued with a solo career, releasing his debut album called “Born into the 90s” in 1992, which produced two #1 hits, namely “Slow Dance” and “Honey Love” and was an overall success. Kelly continued working on his music, and a year later presented the public with his next album entitled “12 Plays”, which hit #1 on the Billboard charts, and with two successful singles that sold over 500,000 copies in the US alone, really established R. Kelly in the music industry.
In 1994 Kelly stepped away from singing, and helped Aaliyah produce her debut album “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number”. At the time, Kelly also worked as a writer and mixer and collaborate withd such artists as Barry White and Toni Braxton with their songs too. R. Kelly then wrote a song for Michael Jackson called “You Are Not Alone”, for which he received two Grammy nominations, so his fame as well as his net worth was certainly reaching the heights.
Following his successful singing career, in 1996 R. Kelly released what would soon become one of his most notable songs – “I Believe I Can Fly”, which was featured on the soundtrack of the movie “Space Jam” with Michael Jordan, peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts and won three Grammy Awards as well.
Throughout his singing career, R. Kelly has released fifteen studio albums, the latest being the release of “White Panties” in 2014.
In his personal life, R. Kelly was married to Aaliyah in 1994, but it was annulled in ’95 apparently because she was just 15. He subsequently married Andrea in 1996, but they divorced in 2009. He is now believed to be single.
