Aerovias de Integración Regional Aires S.A. d/b/a LAN Colombia, previously Aerovías de Integración Regional S.A. (Acronym: AIRES, lit. airs), is a Colombian airline. It operates scheduled regional domestic and international services, as well as a domestic cargo service. Its main base is El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, with an additional hub at Olaya Herrera Airport, Medellín.^[2] On October 28, 2010, it was announced that 98% of the shares in the previous airline AIRES had been acquired by Chilean carrier LAN Airlines. On December 3, 2011, it started operations as LAN Colombia.

A320 in LAN Colombia livery (2011).

History [link]

Aires was born out of the regions' need to communicate with the main cities and their hinterland by air transport service in a quick, safe and permanent way, thus forging the development and integration of the country. Aires was established in the city of Ibague (Tolima), founded by Pedro Antonio Niño Rodríguez and as a result of co-operation between companies from Huila and Tolima in the previous year. Their goal was to connect the departments of Huila and Tolima with the rest of the country and each other. The airline began operations on February 23, 1981 with two Embraer 110 Bandeirante Brazilian manufacturing, connecting the cities of Ibague and Neiva to Bogota and then to Cali, Medellin and Florencia. In 1982 it expanded its routes to the city of Puerto Asis (Putumayo) and San Vicente (Caquetá). In 1987 the fleet was expanded with the inclusion of the first aircraft Fairchild F-27-J with 43 seats (a Fokker 27 Friendship built under license). By 1988 they had carried its first million passengers and in 1990 they included another Fairchild F-27-J in the fleet, extending the routes to Villavicencio and Puerto Leguizamo (Putumayo). In August 1994 Nino Rogriguez introduced the new Dash-8 fleet from Canada's De Havilland and in March 1995 opened the route to Ipiales (Nariño).

First Expansion [link]

With the arrival of the Dash 8 aircraft, a major expansion began with the airline during the 90's. From November 1998 came to share the growth in the Caribbean region by integrating the Atlantic Coast cities. With the opening of an operations center in Barranquilla, began offering scheduled air transport service of passengers and freight, linking this important city to Cartagena, Santa Marta, Monteria, Apartado, Corozal (Sucre), and Valledupar. Also, since then provides its service between Cartagena, Ibague and Bucaramanga and Santa Marta, offering a wide coverage in regional integration, true to its name.

Aires also expanded internationally during the aforementioned decade, flying to Aruba, Panama, Curaçao and Maracaibo (Venezuela) in 2000, connecting the cities and capital Bogota and other schools. For a time he served in Caracas, but the crisis that this country went through at that time, among other factors, played down the viability of the route and had to be terminated.

Aires and Public Order problems [link]

Aires has been the victim of the problems of public order in Colombia, suffered a few incidents. Notable is the kidnapping of a Dash 8 in 2002 by the narco-terrorist group FARC, planned event to ensure the kidnapping of a senator after forcing the crew to land on a narrow road (with what was demonstrated the skill and poise of the flagship Dorian Ospina, who commanded the aircraft) The plane was damaged but was repaired and returned to work. Another incident was the kidnapping after a Dash 8-300 en route to Florencia - Neiva - Bogotá by a paraplegic ex-cop and his son, who claimed a benefit to the government, an event that culminated in the peaceful surrender of the kidnappers without unfortunate consequences. The airline is now a steadily growing company that has managed to cope very well own the aviation industry crisis and the country. In the years following 2008 Aires begun having problems because of schedules and services, many passengers complained and refused to travel on the Airline, because its schedule errors, the airlines begun delaying their flights from ElDorado International Airport by even 24 hours of delay, then passengers begun complaining and stopped travelling with them, the airline has been constantly trying to fix this mistakes and has been trying to pay passengers because of their trip cancellations and their long hours waiting.

Continued expansion and Entry in The Era Of Jet [link]

In that same year, 2002 Aires began operation headquartered in the Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin, connecting the cities of Bucaramanga, Apartado and Monteria, in addition to the traditional route to Ibague, among others. This operation was further strengthened with the disappearance of the ACES airline market, which had a strong operation in the airport. In this period AIRES changed their blue and white color scheme for a blue, green and white art. This change was not the planes, but throughout the corporate image and logo.

A320 at Rafael Núñez International Airport.

Throughout the decade beginning in 2000, Aires remained a strong regional airline connecting also to some international destinations. However, for 2009 AIRES began a major expansion with the mission to be more than a regional airline, for it acquired its first jet aircraft, a modern Boeing 737-700 with which it began operating trunk routes between major cities Colombia. The first of these aircraft arrived in the country in January 2009 and was officially launched on February 10 of that year. With these aircraft Aires launched a new international expansion flying start to New York from Fort Lauderdale from Bogotá and Barranquilla, Bogota, Cartagena and Cali, connecting to other cities. The airline plans to fly to other countries like Brazil, Mexico and Canada. With the arrival of these aircraft was a new change of image, based on the colors in the picture above but in a more modern and fresh.

Throughout this expansion has changed its business model to the category "lowcost" used by international airlines such as Spirit Airlines, Ryanair and EasyJet, among others, in which the basic rate is charged and all other services, as baggage, food and so are extra. In its expansion Aires importantly invigorated Colombian air market, at some point characterized by having the most expensive airfares in the region, producing a significant drop in the price and making the air travel was accessible to many people who for reasons of cost had never been. But recent years have not been entirely positive Aires on August 16, 2010 one of the new Boeing 737-700 had an accident while landing in San Andrés, killing two people and with total loss of the airplane. In addition is this, AIR has had some problems of various kinds, which have caused its punctuality rate decreases significantly, generating complaints from users and called for attention from the FAA.

Aires has been characterized during this phase of its contests, interactive advertising and its proximity to the passengers. Competitions "Quiero Volver a Cali" and "Mas Colombiano Que" (in which passengers have chosen the names for 5 of the Boeing 737-700), among others, have approached the airline with the community. LAN Airlines, the Chilean flagship carrier, paid $12.0 million for a 98.9% indirect stake in Aires, Colombia's second largest airline, LAN said Friday, November 27, 2010. ^[3]

On December 3, Aires started operations as LAN Colombia.

Destinations [link]

The airline operates 25 destinations in Colombia and to Panama and the United States and internationally. On December 19, 2008 under the 44th session of the GEPA (Group Aeronautical Project Evaluator) is authorized 224 new frequencies nationwide. Likewise, the Department of Transportation approved on March 25, 2009 at the airline's flights from Barranquilla, Bogota and Cartagena to New York and Fort Lauderdale. On July 24, 2010 indefinitely suspended its operations in Venezuela given the continuing low traffic and strained relations with that country.

Fleet [link]

Boeing 737-700 in LAN Colombia livery (2011).

Aires began with a fleet of Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante, then replaced them with aircraft manufacturer Bombardier Series "Q" series 100 and 200 and then later the 300, in 2008 announced the addition to the fleet of new aircraft from the same manufacturer but in a new standards and new generation: the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 of whom have arrived in April, configured with 74 seats and to April 2010 the airline has a fleet of turboprop aircraft for 11 Bombardier Q200 Canada Dash 8 configured with 37 seats has also Manufacturer 9 Boeing Jets 737-700 type for the process of internationalization and market entry of trunk routes in the country. The 737 will exit service in 2012. The airline has received 3 Airbus A320 from LAN Airlines.

The LAN Colombia fleet consists of the following aircraft (at Dec 5, 2011):^[4]

In 2008, LAN Colombia announced the purchase of 4 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s.^[5]

Colombia's LAN Colombia plans to replace its entire fleet of 11 Bombardier Dash 8 Q200s with larger Q400s over the next five years.^[6] This makes LAN Colombia the first and currently the only Q400 operator in South America. LAN Colombia is also the only Dash 8 operating airline in Colombia and also the first and only to operate all variants of the Dash 8 series throughout its operational history, although the airline has not operated all 4 variants simultaneously.

Incidents and accidents [link]

• On January 28, 2008, AIRES Flight 053, overran the runway at Bogota's El Dorado airport, en route from Maracaibo, Venezuela after the left hand main gear collapsed. The aircraft was a Dash 8-202, registration: HK-3997. Probable cause for the crash was that the aircraft was carrying out a landing with an unresolved fault in the left engine, which prevented the aircraft from being able to stop within the length of runway available, causing a runway excursion. A contributing factor was the failure to correct the maintenance reports in a satisfactory manner and failure to properly follow-up on repetitive entries.^[7]

• On August 23, 2008, AIRES flight 051, sustained substantial damage following the collapse of the right hand main landing gear on landing at Barranquilla-Ernesto Cortissoz Airport (BAQ), Colombia. None of the 31 occupants were injured. The Dash 8-301 passenger plane, registered HK-3952, operated on an international flight from Curaçao-Hato International Airport (CUR). The approach and landing were normal, touching down about 770 metres past the threshold of runway 23. The crew noticed a vibration of the right hand main gear. The undercarriage leg collapsed. There was no fire.^[8]

• On August 16, 2010, AIRES Flight 8250 crashed on landing at Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport, in San Andrés, Colombia, after being struck by lightning during a thunderstorm. One death was reported as a result of a heart attack on the way to the hospital and another 114 injured.^[9] One of the 114 injured later died.^[10] The Boeing 737-700, originally delivered to EasyJet in 2003 and with registration HK4682, had less than two years service with Aires.

References [link]

External links [link]

	Colombia portal
	Aviation portal
	Companies portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aires Colombia

• Official website
• (Spanish) Conexión (inflight magazine)
• (Spanish) LAN Airlines buys Aires

v t e Airlines of Colombia Aerolínea de Antioquia AeroSucre AeroSur Aexpa APSA Colombia Avianca Avianca Cargo Cargo Express Central Charter de Colombia Copa Airlines Colombia Colombian Air Cargo Cosmos Air Cargo CV Cargo EasyFly Heliandes Helicargo Helicol LANCO LAN Colombia Líneas Aéreas Suramericanas SADELCA SAM Colombia SARPA SATENA SEARCA TAC Colombia Tampa Cargo Vertical de Aviación

Flo Rida
Flo Rida on the set of "Sugar" in 2009.
Background information
Birth name	Tramar Dillard
Born	(1979-12-16) December 16, 1979 (age 32) Carol City, Florida, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, songwriter, actor
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Atlantic, Poe Boy, International Music Group, Strong Arm
Associated acts	Akon, Brisco, Lady Gaga, Timbaland, David Guetta, Kesha, T-Pain, Nicki Minaj , Taio Cruz, Sia Furler, Ne-Yo, Avicii
Website	officialflo.com

Tramar Dillard (born December 16, 1979) better known by his stage name Flo Rida (pronounced  /floʊ ˈraɪdə/), is an American rapper. He released his debut album, Mail on Sunday, in March 2008. His debut single "Low", featuring T-Pain, was a No. 1 hit for ten weeks in United States in early 2008. Two other singles resulted from Mail on Sunday: "Elevator" and "In the Ayer". In 2009, his second album R.O.O.T.S. was released; its most successful single "Right Round" was at the top of the Hot 100 for six weeks. Since then, he has released his third studio album titled Only One Flo (Part 1), which will see a sequel titled Wild Ones.

Biography[link]

Early life and career beginnings[link]

Tramar Dillard was born in the 187th Street projects of Carol City, Florida.^[1] His mother raised him and his seven sisters, some of whom sang in a local gospel group.^[2] Dillard's brother-in-law was a hypeman for local rap group 2 Live Crew, and while in ninth grade, Dillard formed his own amateur group with some friends called the GroundHoggz.^[3] Born and raised in Miami, the GroundHoggz formed in the 187 apartments in Carol City. Similar to Goodie Mob, they were making music for the love of the art and to feed their souls. With only three members, 1Bred, Key Lime, and Fist, they found their missing link when Flo Rida, who lived in the same apartments, spit a verse for them. They were instantly impressed. Together for eight years, they started recording at underground studios in Carver Ranches.^[4] His work with 2 Live Crew member Fresh Kid Ice attracted the attention of DeVante Swing, a member of the band Jodeci. However, he was rejected by several of the major labels, so he sought many other jobs outside of music.^[5] After graduating from high school in 1998, he studied international business management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for two years and attended Barry University for two months.^[5][6] He returned to Florida to continue pursuing his music career after receiving a phone call from a representative of the independent label Poe Boy Entertainment.^[5] Dillard signed with Poe Boy in 2006, and as Flo Rida he began affiliating with other artists, such as Rick Ross, Trina, T-Pain, and Trick Daddy. A promotional street single entitled "Birthday", featuring Rick Ross, was his first significant release. He made his debut guest appearance with the song "Bitch I'm from Dade County" on DJ Khaled's album We the Best, which featured Trick Daddy, Trina, Rick Ross, Brisco, C-Ride, and Dre.^[7]

[edit] 2007–08: Mail on Sunday

Rehearsing for the 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto.

Flo Rida's first single was "Low", featuring T-Pain. It was his first official single from his debut album Mail On Sunday and the soundtrack to the movie Step Up 2: The Streets. "Low" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^[7] "Elevator", featuring Timbaland, "In the Ayer" featuring will.i.am, and "Roll" featuring Sean Kingston followed and all charted on the Hot 100 and other charts.^[8]

T-Pain, who laced the first single, is only one of the many featured guests throughout the album. Timbaland, who produced the second single "Elevator", is also featured on the track. Rick Ross, and Trey Songz made appearances as well.^[9] Lil Wayne has also been added to the list^[9] with assistance on the "American Superstar" track while Sean Kingston appears on the J. R. Rotem-produced "Roll" the concept was created, and co-written by Compton rapper Spitfiya, from The Bullets Production Team, Various other guests include Birdman, Brisco, and Yung Joc. The third single is "In the Ayer" featuring Will.i.am. The fourth single was scheduled to be "Money Right" featuring Brisco, and Rick Ross, but was canceled due to the release of his upcoming second studio album R.O.O.T.S. His second collaboration with T-Pain, "I Bet", as well as his collaboration with Trina, named "Bout It", both didn't make the final tracklist, but were recorded. As for production, J. R. Rotem, DJ Montay, and Timbaland all provided tracks for Mail on Sunday, among others.

After the success of Mail on Sunday, Flo Rida made guest performances on other R&B, rap, and pop singles, including "Move Shake Drop" by DJ Laz, "We Break the Dawn" by Michelle Williams, the remix of "4 Minutes" by Madonna, "Running Back" by Australian R&B singer Jessica Mauboy, "Feel It" by DJ Felli Fel, and the remix of "Speedin'" by Rick Ross. During the summer of 2008, he did live performances on the Fox dance competition program So You Think You Can Dance in the US^[10] and 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards in Canada.^[11] He appeared on the albums We Global by DJ Khaled, Gutta by Ace Hood, and The Fame by Lady Gaga, among others.

[edit] 2009–10: R.O.O.T.S.

Flo Rida performing "Right Round" at the Circus Club in Finland on July 9, 2009.

According to Billboard magazine, Flo Rida began recording his sophomore nine months after Mail On Sunday. The album is titled R.O.O.T.S. and was released on March 31, 2009.^[12] The first single "Right Round" featured Ke$ha and was released for airplay in January 2009. "Right Round" jumped from number 58 to the top spot in one week in late February. The song broke a record for the most digital one week sales in the U.S., with 636,000, beating the previous record he had set himself with "Low".^[13] "Right Round" sampled "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", a 1985 hit by Dead or Alive.^[14] The second official single was "Sugar", which featured R&B singer Wynter Gordon. The song reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Jump" is the third official single and was released on July 27, 2009 in the UK, and July 28, 2009 worldwide.^[15] The song features Canadian singer Nelly Furtado. As of August 13, 2009 it has peaked at number fifty-four in the US, number twenty-seven in Canada, number twenty-one in the UK, and number eighteen in Australia. "Be on You" has been confirmed as the album's fourth official single for a release on October 6, 2009. The song features American singer Ne-Yo. When the album was released the single debuted at number ninety in the US. The song has received airplay since the albums release, and has since peaked at number nineteen in the US, and number fifty-one in the UK. "Available" was going to be released on iTunes but was cancelled. It charted at number 120 in Ireland. The song features Akon. A music video was also shot in mid-2009.^[16] R.O.O.T.S. debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 55,000 copies in its first week.^[17] As of August, 2009, the album has sold 223,000 copies in the United States, and 536,000 worldwide. By the end of 2009, the album sold 247,000 copies becoming the eighth best selling rap album of 2009.^[18]

Flo Rida made guest performances on "Feel It" by DJ Felli Fel, "Starstruck" by Lady Gaga, and "Feel It" by Three 6 Mafia. "Bad Boys", the first single by winner of British reality show The X Factor Alexandra Burke that featured Flo Rida, debuted at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in October.^[19]

[edit] 2010–11: Only One Flo (Part 1)

Flo Rida's third album Only One Flo (Part 1) was released on November 24, 2010. In March 2010, Flo Rida announced on Twitter that the album would be titled The Only One.^[20] Billboard reported that The Only One was to be a double album.^[21] A promo single, titled "Zoosk Girl", which features T-Pain, was released on the internet, though the song is not featured on the album, the single does have its own music video. On June 28, 2010, Flo Rida released the song "Club Can't Handle Me" featuring David Guetta, which was stated to be the official first single for the album. The song was also featured in the Step Up 3D soundtrack.^[22] On November 2, 2010, "Come with Me" was released as the first promo single for the album, along with "Puzzle", produced, and featuring by Electrixx, which isn't featured on the album. On November 16, 2010, "Turn Around (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)" was released as the second official promo single for the album via the iTunes Store.^[23] It debuted on the Australian Singles Chart at number thirty-four on November 29, 2010.^[24] After the release of the album in the UK, "Who Dat Girl" started to receive a strong amount of downloads, thus causing it to debut at number 136^[25] on the UK Singles Chart and chart at a current peak of number thirty-one on the UK R&B Chart.^[26] "Why You Up In Here" was released as the fourth single, and third promo single, on May 11, 2011. The song features Ludacris, Gucci Mane, and Git Fresh.

Flo Rida also made guest appearances on "iYiYi", a song by Australian teen singer Cody Simpson, and on the song "Out My Video" by Bulgarian singer LiLana. Flo Rida collaborated with UK girl group The Saturdays, recording a new version of the girl's single, "Higher".^[27] In December 2010, the Associated Press reported that Flo Rida had created his own label, International Music Group, inspired by Nicki Minaj's signing with Lil Wayne's. He has signed an 18 year-old rapper, Brianna^[28] and Git Fresh^[29] to International. Lately, Flo Rida has teamed up with the Malaysian singer, Mizz Nina, on a song called Take Over.

Driving issues[link]

On June 9, 2011, Flo Rida was arrested in Miami Beach, Florida for DUI and driving with a suspended license.^[30][31] Flo Rida was released from jail after he posted $2,000 bail and obtained a signed court order allowing him to travel to Asia for a series of previously scheduled concerts in Bangkok over the weekend.^[32]

[edit] 2011–present: Wild Ones

Flo Rida performing live in 2012.

The first single from Rida's upcoming album, Wild Ones, originally Only One Rida (Part 2), is "Good Feeling", released on August 29, 2011.^[33] The songs samples "Levels" by Avicii, which samples Etta James' 1962 song, "Something's Got a Hold on Me". Following the death of Etta James on January 20, 2012, Flo Rida dedicated the song in her memory.^[34] The song has peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100,^[35] topped the charts in Austria,^[36] Germany,^[37] Scotland,^[38] and the UK. It has also reached the top five in nine different countries worldwide.

On April 1, Flo Rida made an appearance at WrestleMania XXVIII and have a segment with Heath Slater, Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks where Heath calls Flo Rida "Florida" and Flo Rida shoves him into a wall; making Tyler and Curt come out laughing at Heath. Later that night Flo Rida performed "Wild Ones" and "Good Feeling" before Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson came out to battle John Cena. On April 6, 2012 and exclusive Australian EP entitled Good Feeling was released in Australia which contains six of his biggest hits and two remixes.^[39] It debuted at No. 21 on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart^[40] On May 22, 2012, Flo Rida performed and closed the show at the first Q102 Springle Ball Concert, the following day he performed "Goin' In" with Jennifer Lopez on the America Idol finale.

Discography[link]

• Mail on Sunday (2008)
• R.O.O.T.S. (2009)
• Only One Flo (Part 1) (2010)
• Wild Ones (2012)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

R. Kelly
R. Kelly performs at the Light it Up Tour in 2006.
Background information
Birth name	Robert Sylvester Kelly
Born	(1967-01-08) January 8, 1967 (age 45) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres	R&B, hip hop, gospel
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer, Musician, Rapper, Actor
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboard, guitar
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Jive, RCA
Associated acts	Public Announcement, Ronald Isley, Jay-Z, Fat Joe, Aaliyah, Usher, Snoop Dogg
Website	r-kelly.com

Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967), better known by his stage name R. Kelly, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. Often referred to as the King of R&B, Kelly is recognized as one of the most successful R&B artists of all-time. A native of Chicago, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s and debuted in 1992 with the group Public Announcement. In 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play. He is known for a collection of major hit singles including "Bump n' Grind", "Your Body's Callin'", "I Believe I Can Fly", "Gotham City", "Ignition (Remix)", "If I Could Turn Back the Hands of Time", "The World's Greatest", "I'm a Flirt", and the hip-hopera "Trapped in the Closet". In 1998, Kelly won three Grammy Awards for "I Believe I Can Fly".

Kelly has written, produced, and remixed songs for many artists including The Winans, The Isley Brothers, Charlie Wilson, Quincy Jones, K-Ci & JoJo, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Michael Jackson, Hi-Five, Nivea, Ciara, Mary J. Blige, Luther Vandross, Gerald LeVert, Raheem DeVaughn, Ruben Studdard, Jaheim, Kelly Price, Tamia, Maxwell, Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Usher, B2K, Twista, Tyrese, Jennifer Lopez, Trey Songz, and others in the U.S. and abroad.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), has recognized R. Kelly as one of the best-selling music artists in the United States with 33.5 million albums sold as well as only the fifth Black artist to crack the top 50 of the same list.^[1] In March 2011, R. Kelly was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard.^[2][3][4] Kelly has released 10 studio albums, sold 35 million albums in the U.S., 15 million singles, and over 50 million albums worldwide making him the most successful R&B male artist of 1990s.^[5][6]

Early life[link]

Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, Kelly was the third of four children.^[7] Kelly's single mother, Joan, was a singer and a Baptist. Kelly's father was absent throughout most of Kelly's life.^[8] Kelly began singing in church at age eight.^[7] In Chicago, Kelly's family lived in the projects at 63rd Street before relocating to a small house at 107th and Parnell Streets. Kelly entered Kenwood Academy in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood in the fall of 1980 where he met his music teacher Lena McLin, who encouraged Kelly to perform the Stevie Wonder classic Ribbon in the Sky in a highschool talent show.^[8][9][10]

As a teenager, Kelly began street performing (or busking) under the Chicago 'L' trains before he eventually formed a group with his friend Marc McWilliams. In 1989, Kelly and McWilliams formed the group MGM (Musically Gifted Men). In 1991, Along with Vincent Corey Walker and Shawnth Brooks, Kelly performed on the TV talent show Big Break, hosted by Natalie Cole, and went on to win the $100,000 grand prize.

Recording career[link]

[edit] 1992: Born into the 90's

Credited as R. Kelly and Public Announcement, the debut album Born into the 90's was released in early 1992, during the new jack swing period of the early nineties. The album yielded the R&B hits "She's Got That Vibe", "Honey Love", "Dedicated", and "Slow Dance (Hey Mr. DJ)", all of which were led by Kelly.^[11] During late 1992, Kelly and Public Announcement embarked on a tour called "60653", whose title was the zip code of Kelly's neighborhood.^[7] This would be the only album co-credited with Public Announcement. Kelly separated from the group in January 1993.^[8]

[edit] 1993–94: 12 Play

Kelly's first solo album, 12 Play, was released on November 9, 1993 and yielded the singer's first number-one hit, "Bump N' Grind", which spent a record-breaking 12 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart. Subsequent hit singles: "Your Body's Callin'" (U.S. Hot 100: #13, U.S. R&B: #2) and "Sex Me" (U.S. Hot 100: #20, U.S. R&B: #8). Both singles sold 500,000 copies in the United States and were certified Gold by the RIAA. ^[11] In 1994, 12 Play was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), eventually going six times platinum.^[13]

Following the success of 12 Play, Kelly found himself in huge demand as a writer, producer, and mixer. On June 13, 1994, Kelly's protégé Aaliyah released her debut album titled Age Ain't Nothing But a Number which was entirely written and produced by R. Kelly. The album peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200 and sold over three million copies in the United States. Age Ain't Nothing But a Number spawned two hit singles: "Back & Forth" (U.S. Hot 100: #5, U.S. R&B: #1); blocked Kelly's "Your Body's Callin' from the top spot and "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (U.S. Hot 100: #6, U.S. R&B: #2). Kelly also wrote and produced the female R&B duo Changing Faces first two hit singles, "Stroke You Up" (U.S. Hot 100: #3, U.S. R&B: #2) and "Foolin' Around" (U.S. R&B: #9). During this time, Kelly also became widely known for his remixes. He remixed his own songs, Bump N' Grind, Sex Me and "Homie Lover Friend", a remix featured on the A Low Down Dirty Shame (soundtrack) along with Aaliyah's song, "The Thing I Like" which was written and produced by Kelly, as well. Kelly remixed songs for other artists including Aaliyah, Barry White and Toni Braxton. He produced the popular remix for Janet Jackson's 1994 hit "Any Time, Any Place" and was featured on Jackson's remix album, Janet Remixed.

[edit] 1995–96: R. Kelly

In 1995, Kelly garnered his first-ever Grammy nominations; two nominations for writing, producing and composing Michael Jackson's last number one hit "You Are Not Alone".^[14] Kelly's success continued with the release of his second studio album, R. Kelly which was released on November 14, 1995 in the United States (see 1995 in music). Critics praised Kelly for his departure from salacious bedroom songs to embracing vulnerability. New York Time's Stephen Holden described Kelly as "The reigning king of pop-soul sex talks a lot tougher than Barry White, the father of such fluffed-up pillow talk and along with Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway, a major influence on Kelly." ^[15] In December 1995, Professor Michael Eric Dyson critiqued Kelly's self-titled album for Vibe (magazine). Dyson described Kelly's growth from the 12 Play album: "Kelly reshapes his personal turmoil to artistic benefit" and noted that Kelly is "reborn before our very own ears." ^[16]

The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming Kelly's first number one album on the chart, and reached number one on the R&B album charts; his second. R. Kelly spawned three platinum hit singles: "You Remind Me of Something" (U.S. Hot 100: #4, U.S. R&B: #1), "I Can't Sleep (Baby If I)" (U.S. Hot 100: #5, U.S. R&B: #1), and "Down Low (Nobody Has To Know)" (U.S. Hot 100: #4, U.S. R&B: #1); a duet with Ronald Isley. Kelly's self-titled album sold four million copies, thus receiving 4× platinum certification from the RIAA.^[13] Kelly promoted the album with a 50-city "Down Low Top Secret Tour" with LL Cool J, Xscape, and Solo.^[17]

In May 1996, Kelly was featured on the cover of Ebony Man (EM) magazine with the headline proclaiming "R. Kelly The new King of R&B" where he discussed touring, working with Quincy Jones, Toni Braxton, and Janet Jackson ("When I first met them, I could tell they liked my albums. There was always a certain song they named off my album. They said they wanted something like that." Braxton liked "Your Body's Callin'".), as well as his influences Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway ("The way he approached the woman he loved in his songs. He didn't hold back" he says of Hathaway. "He was raw with what he had to say. And Marvin Gaye was the same.") and Michael Jackson's dedication to music ("He's another person that I feel is married to his music. That's why we related so well.")

In 1996, Kelly released one of his most successful singles with "I Believe I Can Fly", an inspirational song originally released on the soundtrack for the film Space Jam. "I Believe I Can Fly" reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and No. 1 on the UK charts for three weeks and won three Grammy Awards in 1998.^[11] Rolling Stone magazine named it as the 406th of its top 500 songs of all time.^[18]

[edit] 1997–99: R.

In 1997, Kelly fulfilled a longtime dream of his and signed a contract to play basketball with the Atlantic City Seagulls of the USBL. Kelly wore the number 12 in honor of his album 12 Play.^[19] Kelly said "I love basketball enough to not totally let go of my music, but just put it to the side for a minute, and fulfill some dreams of mine that I've had for a long time." Kelly's USBL contract contained a clause that would allow him to fulfill a music obligation when necessary. "If Whitney Houston needs a song written", Gross said, "he would be able to leave the team to do that and come back". "It wasn't a gimmick," said Ken Gross, the Seagulls owner who signed Kelly. "He's a ballplayer. He can play."^[20] Kelly is the first music artist to play professional basketball.^[21]

In 1998, Kelly released R., his fourth studio album and first double album. The album spans different genres from radio pop (Celine Dion), street rap (Nas and Jay-Z) to Blues ("Suicide"). It was released in the United States on November 17, 1998 (see 1998 in music). Dave Hoekstra of the Los Angeles Times described the album as "easily the most ambitious project of his career."^[22] R. is the first album that Kelly allowed other record producers to contribute on his album, as opposed to producing the entire album himself, and his first time collaborating with various artists on his album. The album remains Kelly's biggest selling album to date having sold 8 million copies in the United States and 4 million copies internationally.

R. reached number one on the R&B albums chart, becoming Kelly's third number one album to do so, and entered at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. It spawned Kelly's second number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, "I'm Your Angel", a duet with Celine Dion and notable classics such as "When A Woman's Fed Up" (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop: #5) and "If I Could Turn Back The Hands of Time" (Hot 100: #12, UK: #2).^[23][24][25] The album also contains Kelly's international hit, "I Believe I Can Fly", which had been released two years prior on the Space Jam soundtrack.

In 1998, Kelly wrote and produced the debut album of his protégé Sparkle, which was released under his Rockland label and distributed through Interscope. In 2000,Sparkle went Gold due to the success of the first single, "Be Careful", a duet featuring R. Kelly.^[26] Since the success of Space Jam's "I Believe I Can Fly", Kelly gained notoriety for penning songs to popular soundtracks such as Batman & Robin ("Gotham City") and Life ("Fortunate"). In 1999, Kelly wrote and produced, along with contribution from Wyclef Jean, the majority of the soundtrack to the Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence film Life. Kelly composed ten songs on the soundtrack, while Jean composed five.

[edit] 2000: TP-2.com

As the year 2000 commenced, Kelly racked up a slew of new awards reflecting his status as an established R&B superstar. In January 2000, Kelly had won Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist at the American Music Awards, and in February, was nominated for several Grammy Awards, including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("When A Woman's Fed Up"), Best R&B Album (R.), and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("Satisfy You") with P. Diddy.^[27]

On November 7, 2000, Kelly released his fifth studio album TP-2.com, an album harking back to his breakthrough album, 12 Play. Unlike Kelly's previous effort, R., all songs on TP-2.com was written, arranged, and produced entirely by Kelly. Allmusic's Jason Birchmeier rated TP-2.com with 4 stars and described Kelly's style: "Kelly knows how to take proven formulas and funnel them through his own stylistic aesthetic, which usually means slowing down the tempo, laying on lush choruses of strings and background vocals, taming down the lyrics for radio, and catering his pitch primarily to wistful women.^[28]

The album was Kelly's second album to peak at #1 on the Billboard 200 and the fourth to top the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.^[29] TP-2.com yielded the hits "I Wish (R. Kelly song)" (U.S. Hot 100: #14, U.S. R&B: #1), "Feelin' On Yo Booty" (U.S. R&B: #9), and the remix to "Fiesta (R. Kelly song)" (U.S. Hot 100: #6, U.S. R&B: #1), which featured Jay-Z.^[30][31][32]

In 2001, Kelly won the Outstanding Achievement Award at the MOBO Awards and Billboard magazine ranked TP-2.com at number 94 on the magazine's Top 200 Albums of the Decade.^[33][34]

[edit] 2001–02: Loveland and Best of Both Worlds

"The World's Greatest", from the Ali soundtrack, was a hit, and Kelly performed at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics.^[35]

In 2001, Kelly began discussing the possibility of a joint album with Jay-Z after the positive reception of Jay-Z's "Guilty Until Proven Innocent", which featured Kelly and the remix to "Fiesta (R. Kelly song)" which featured Jay-Z. In December 2001 at the Billboard Music Awards, Kelly confirmed the album's existence and announced the title of the album,Best of Both Worlds. During this time, Kelly began working on the follow-up to his fifth studio album TP-2.com, titled Loveland.

On January 24, 2002, at the press conference announcing the Best of Both Worlds completion, celebrities such as Johnnie Cochran, Russell Simmons, Ronald Isley and Sean Combs lined up to praise the album, with Jay-Z stating that he hoped the collaboration represents "more unity for black people on a whole."^[36] Black Electorate described the collaboration as "one of the greatest power moves in Black music history."^[37] MTV's Shaheem Reid wrote: "And if Jay and Kelly can put their egos to the side long enough to wrap up and promote their album, then their labels — Def Jam and Jive, respectively — can surely figure out a way to join forces and make cheddar together. As determined by a coin toss, the album will be distributed on Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam in the U.S. and Canada, while Jive will handle distribution internationally."^[36]

When the joint album leaked on February 22, 2002 it caused the label, Roc-A-Fella, to push the album's release date up from the initial date, March 26, to March 19.^[38][39] Jay-Z expressed his frustration about the album leak to MTV News: "It's the gift and the curse. It's an honor that everybody wants your music fast, but on the other hand, it's another thing when the music gets out before you [want it to]. Because that's your art. You feel attached to it. You feel a certain way and you want people to go out and support it. The time that you take, it's like a piece of your life. You take parts of your life and you put it on these records and then for it to just be traded and moved around [is frustrating].^[39]

The release date for Best of Both Worlds was eventually moved back to the initial date March 26. The album sold 285,000 copies in its opening week and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart.^[38]

In May 2002, Kelly's initial sixth studio album, Loveland, leaked and was delayed to release in November.^[40] Instead Kelly re-recorded the entire album, titled it Chocolate Factory and featured several of the bootlegged tracks on the bonus Loveland disc.

[edit] 2003: Chocolate Factory

In early 2003, Chocolate Factory became a runaway success for Kelly, selling over three million copies due to the success of singles such as "Ignition". "Snake" and "Step in the Name of Love" were also popular singles. "Snake", incidentally, became the basis of the dancehall reggae riddim known as Baghdad. Later that year Kelly followed that success by releasing his first greatest hits collection The R in R&B Collection Volume 1, the album as well as a DVD collection.

[edit] 2004: Happy People/U Saved Me and Unfinished Business

In 2004, Kelly released the ambitious two-disc set Happy People/U Saved Me, with the first disc including feel-good, stepping-inspired tracks, while focusing on gospel and inspirational material on the second disc. That same year, Kelly performed The Star-Spangled Banner during the introduction of the world championship boxing fight between Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor. His performance, which included a line of dancers doing the "stepping" routine and a prerecorded instrumental track set to the sound of "Happy People", was met with a mixed reaction. In October 2004, Kelly reunited with Jay-Z to do a follow-up to their Best of Both Worlds album shortly after announcing a tour to coincide with the project after the duo performed together during Jay-Z's "farewell" concert at Madison Square Garden a year before. The duo's Unfinished Business album was released and peaked at number one on the Billboard chart.

The Unfinished Business tour was plagued by a rivalry between the two stars and Kelly reportedly showing up late or not at all to gigs. The singer, according to Jay-Z, often complained that the touring lights were not directed towards him and often left during the middle of sets. Another night during the concert, Kelly stayed on his tour bus for two hours before finally coming out to perform an uninspired set. Jay-Z eventually removed R. Kelly halfway through the tour, after a member of Jay-Z's entourage attacked R. Kelly with Mace or pepper spray. On April 25, 2006, it was confirmed that Jay-Z's younger cousin, Tyran (Ty-Ty) Smith confessed in a Manhattan Criminal Court to pepper-spraying R. Kelly and four of his bodyguards at Madison Square Garden in October 2004. Smith had been charged with assault, but was allowed to plead guilty to disorderly conduct for four days of community service. After the original incident, Jay-Z made Smith an executive of Def Jam Records.^[41] Kelly also launched a $75 million lawsuit against Jay-Z for removing him from the tour, which received a countersuit by Jay-Z which was thrown out by the judge.^[42]

[edit] 2007–08: Double Up

On May 29, 2007, R Kelly released his eighth studio album Double Up, which included the hit single "I'm a Flirt (Remix)", featuring T.I. and T-Pain. The original track entitled "I'm a Flirt", also produced and co-written by R. Kelly, appeared as a hidden track on Bow Wow's The Price of Fame (2006). However, Kelly never gave the rights for the song to be released as a formal single, although it was played by many radio stations before the remix version. Kelly's first single from Double Up was "I'm a Flirt (Remix)", Bow Wow was not featured on this version of the song. In Kelly's video for "I'm a Flirt (Remix)", he encourages fans to call a number which flashes up quickly on the screen. Fans who called the number were greeted by a recording of Kelly talking about his upcoming album and playing snippets of new songs in the studio. "I'm a Flirt (Remix)" was successful for Kelly. The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number one on the Billboard Hot Rap Tracks. Another hit on the album, "Same Girl", was a collaboration between Kelly and Usher. The single peaked at number 20 on the Hot 100 and peaked at number four on the R&B chart. Other singles such as "Rock Star" featuring Ludacris and Kid Rock, "Sex Planet" and "Freaky in the Club" were R&B charters, although the latter two were not officially released as singles, nor was the title track featuring Snoop Dogg.

Kelly's other single from Double Up titled "Rise Up" was a tribute to the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. The song was officially released as a digital download May 15, 2007. Proceeds were donated to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, a fund that helped family members of the victims of the shootings.^[43]

Kelly began his Double Up tour with Ne-Yo, Keyshia Cole and J. Holiday opening for him. After two shows, promoter Leonard Rowe had Ne-Yo removed from the tour because of a contract dispute. However, Ne-Yo alleges that the reason for the dropout was because Ne-Yo believes he received a better response from critics and fans, even though he only performed at two shows. Ne-Yo filed a lawsuit against Rowe Entertainment. It was shown that Kelly was not mentioned in the lawsuit. In December 2007, Kelly was showing up to another preliminary court hearing on his case due to his tour bus being held up in Utah.^[44] The judge threatened to revoke Kelly's bond, but the judge eventually decided not to. In 2008, Kelly released a rap track titled "I'm a Beast" in which he coarsely attacked his detractors, though Kelly himself never mentioned by name whom the song was directed to.^[45]

In 2008, Billboard reported that Kelly had plans to release his newest album titled 12 Play: Fourth Quarter in the summer of that year but the album was postponed. Billboard also named Kelly among the most successful artists ever for its 50th Anniversary List.^[46] In the spring, the first promotional single "Hair Braider", peaked at No. 56 on Billboard's R&B chart. On July 28, the entire album leaked online.^[47] The album was then pushed back to be released in the fall. On September 18, Kelly released the video to the second promotional single "Skin". However, the album still has no official release date. Though Kelly has not released an album, he has kept busy in the studio doing featured guest spots on numerous remixes including "Lookin Boy" remix by Hotstylz, Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" remix, a verse for a remix to Kanye West's single "Love Lockdown", Raheem DeVaughn's "Customer" remix, Beyoncé Knowles' "If I Were a Boy" remix, T-Pain's "Chopped 'n' Skrewed" remix, among others. A recent track was leaked on the internet titled "I Believe". Kelly states on his official MySpace page that Obama's election inspired him to write the song, which contains an excerpt from Barack Obama's presidential acceptance speech. This song was available on iTunes as a free download the first week it was released.

[edit] 2009: Untitled

On June 3, 2009, Kelly released his first ever mixtape, The Demo Tape (Gangsta Grillz) presented by DJ Skee and DJ Drama as a way to reintroduce himself to fans.^[48]

While at the Velvet Room in Atlanta in February 2009, Kelly announced that he was out there working on the album and that it would be called Untitled.^[49] The album was given a September 29, 2009 release date,^[50] but was delayed until October 13, 2009. The album release was again delayed and was released under Jive Records on December 1, 2009. It got mixed to positive reviews from critics. The single "Number One", which features Keri Hilson, peaked at #8 on the US R&B Chart.

Kelly performed for the first time in Africa headlining the Arise African Fashion Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa on June 20, 2009.^[51] Kelly scheduled to perform in Cape Town before heading to Nigeria as part of the annual ThisDay music and fashion festival in July. Kelly also performed in Kampala, Uganda in January 2010. He also scheduled to perform in London as part of his first international tour in eight years, but he did not make his London concert. "I'm very excited about my first visit to Africa, I've dreamed about this for a long time and it's finally here," Kelly said in a statement. "It will be one of the highlights of not only my career but my life. I can't wait to perform in front of my fans in Africa — who have been some of the best in the world."^[52]

In December 2009, Kelly teamed up with biographer David Ritz and Tavis Smiley's SmileyBooks publications to write his memoirs entitled Soulacoaster. SmileyBooks publisher and founder, Tavis Smiley stated that the memoir's main focus won't be on Kelly's trials and tribulations. Smiley was quoted saying "If anyone thinks this bookis going to fixate on [R. Kelly's trials], they are going to be sadly mistaken. It is going to be a holistic look at his life thus far and the life and legacy that he's building." ^[53]

[edit] 2010: Epic and Love Letter

Kelly performed the inspirational song "Sign of a Victory" at the 2010 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony on June 11, 2010.^[54]

On July 13, 2010, a song called "Tongues" surfaced, reportedly the lead single from Kelly's upcoming album Zodiac. The song is produced by Bangladesh and features Ludacris.^[55]

In an interview in the September 2010 issue of XXL magazine, Kelly mentioned that he is currently working on three new albums (Epic, Love Letter, and Zodiac) and detailed that the new material is basically him "remixing himself". ^[56]

On September 13, 2010, Kelly released one of his three new albums, Epic. A collection of Kelly's most "epic" ballads, including five brand-new inspirational songs; the compilation was only released in Europe. In the September 2010 issue of XXL magazine, Kelly mentioned that the song Sign of Victory gave him the idea to do an international album called Epic.

In November 2010, Kelly collaborated with several African musicians forming a supergroup known as One8. The group features 2Face from Nigeria, Alikiba from Tanzania, Congolese singer Fally Ipupa, 4X4 from Ghana, hip-hop artist Movaizhaleine from Gabon, Zambia's JK, Ugandan hip-hop star Navio and Kenya's Amani, the only female in the group. The first release from the group is "Hands Across the World" written and produced by Kelly.^[57][58]

Kelly's latest album Love Letter was released on December 14, 2010 worldwide. The album includes 15 songs, the latter being a bonus track; a cover of Michael Jackson's You Are Not Alone, which was written and produced by Kelly as well. Love Letter has been critically acclaimed by music critics and highly-praised by critics and fans alike. ABC News declared "The genius of R. Kelly has been resurrected and is on full display on Love Letter" ^[59] The first single "When a Woman Loves" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. ABC News music critic named "When a Woman Loves" the best single of 2010 saying: "An absolutely stunning love song with a pitch-perfect vocal performance that will send chills down your spine — for the right reasons." ^[60] The next single, "Love Letter" and "A Love Letter Christmas", the Christmas remix to "Love Letter", were released as singles on November 22, 2010. In promotion of the Love Letter album he performed at the 2010 Soul Train Music Awards and on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. All songs on the album were written and produced by Kelly.

2011: Throat surgery[link]

On February 12 at the 2011 Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala in Los Angles, Kelly performed a medley of hits including Happy People, When a Woman's Fed Up and Bump N' Grind, which brought Usher, Mary J. Blige and Katy Perry to their feet. ^[61] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times wrote "Kelly is a single-bound kind of leaper who dips into everything from soft porn to opera in his music. His supreme chutzpah, a quality he shares with Streisand, allows him to feel secure within pop's traditions while taking them wherever he pleases. He made Davis' musical program, which at times got lost amid the chatter of the A-list crowd, come alive. It was all so simple then: an instant when one of pop's key traditional elements, that determination to wow, took on new dimension in the hands of an expert." ^[62]

In March 2011, Kelly was named the #1 R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard.^[2] In his career Kelly has amassed 35 top 10 hits and 11 #1 hits on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

On July 19, 2011, Kelly was rushed to the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago to undergo emergency throat surgery. He cancelled his heavily advertised performance at the Reggae Sumfest in Jamaica that was scheduled the following Friday. In a statement the organizers said, "Kelly's unforeseen and unavoidable health issues will prevent him from making a scheduled appearance on the music festival." Johnny Gourzong, Sumfest Productions executive director, also commented, saying, "We are truly going to miss his presence on the festival." ^[63] On July 20, 2011, in a press release, representatives for R. Kelly explained that he was rushed to the hospital to drain an abscess on one of his tonsils and "will be laid up for an indefinite amount of time".^[64] Shortly after, Kelly tweeted fans "I WILL BE BACK!" he promised and "I'd like to thank everybody for their love, concern and support." ^[65] On July 21, 2011, Kelly's spokesman, Allan Mayer, reported that Kelly was released from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and is recuperating at home. It was not immediately clear when Kelly might be well enough to resume performing. ^[66] On July 21, 2011, in a video message to fans, Kelly spoke out for the first time since throat surgery and reassured his fans that he's doing well. He said "Yo what's up, y'all, it's your boy Kellz, fresh out the hospital. Just want to say thanks to my fans for supporting me. I want to say thanks to all the prayer warriors out there for supporting me." ^[67]

On September 23, 2011, Variety (magazine) confirmed that Kelly has signed on to write original music for the Sparkle soundtrack. ^[68] On April 25, 2011, Director Salkim Akli was quoted saying, "Hopefully, R. Kelly will come on and do some of the music for the film. His latest music sounds like it came from a time period. Here's a guy who can write about a woman being a jeep to 'I Believe I Can Fly' and he's an artist. Whether you like him or dislike him, I love artists, and I know that he will just go deep into it and come up with something unique." ^[69]

On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records. With the shutdown, Kelly (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) will release his future material on the RCA Records brand.^[70][71]

On November 10, 2011, Kelly tweeted to fans "It's been a long time coming but I finally feel a lot better about my throat since the surgery and this is the first song I wrote." ^[72] followed with "Enjoy!" and a link to a song titled "Shut Up". In the song, Kelly addresses the people who doubted his ability to comeback after the surgery and the rumors that surrounded him while he was in recovery. Reviews for "Shut Up" were generally positive: Spin (magazine) wrote, "Kelly taking aim at the haters who said "he's washed up, he's lost it." He hasn't. Dude's voice is in prime smooth R&B form". ^[73] Prefix (magazine) writer, Andrew Winistorfer described the song as "vintage Kelly: It's all runs in the verses, falsetto in the middle, and randomly placed vitriol. ^[74]

On December 21, 2011, Kelly made a live appearance on The X Factor (U.S.) and gave his first performance since undergoing emergency throat surgery in the summer. He sang his classic hit "I Believe I Can Fly" with finalist Melanie Amaro and received positive reviews from critics. Kelly revealed to Rolling Stone that he felt like he was "just starting out" and how the performance was a "wake up call" for him. ^[75]

Kelly is currently working on his memoir entitled Soulacoaster and it's expected to be released in the Spring of 2012.

[edit] 2012: Write Me Back and Trapped in the Closet Revival

On January 31, 2012, Kelly revealed in a radio interview that he's releasing a follow-up to the Love Letter album titled Write Me Back. The album is a mix of Kelly's previous albums; Love Letter, Happy People and a little bit of TP-2.Com.^[76] On February 1, 2012, Kelly released the first single, "Share My Love", off his twelfth studio album, Write Me Back.^[77]

On February 18, 2012, R. Kelly performed at Whitney Houston's memorial. Kelly performed the ballad I Look to You, a song he wrote for Whitney that she released on July 23, 2009. The song was included in her seventh and final studio album, also titled I Look to You. After singing the song he said, "We love you Whitney. Rest in Peace." before leaving the stage.^[78]

On March 20, 2012, IFC announced a third installment of the Trapped in the Closet will be coming soon. ^[79]

Personal life[link]

Robert Kelly, the third of four children, grew up in a single parent home. Kelly was reared in the church, where he sang in the choir. ^[80] His mother, Joanne, died in 1993.

Kelly has three children: Two daughters Joann (born 1998) and Jaya (born 2000), and a son Robert Jr. (born 2002).^[81]

In 1996, Kelly married Andrea Kelly, his former backup dancer and children's mother. In January 2009, after 12 years of marriage, the couple divorced.^[82]

Legal issues[link]

After a July 1996 brawl at a Lafayette, Louisiana health club involving bodyguard William Robert Savy, Kelly was placed on a year's unsupervised probation starting August 13, 1997. One of the victims, Christopher Mahoney, needed 110 facial stitches.^[83]

Kelly was arrested on April 8, 1998 on three misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, including one charge on violating noise ordinance for playing loud music from his car.^[84] Prosecutors from the district attorney's office dropped the first two charges on May 7 and the noise charge on July 22 that year.^[85][86]

On February 3, 2002, a video showing Kelly engaging in sex with, and urinating on, an allegedly underage woman surfaced. The woman defended R. Kelly, later saying that she consented. The story, which was released by an unknown source, was sent to the Chicago Sun-Times, the newspaper that broke the story. Kelly denied that he was the man in the video.^[87] Bootleg copies of that tape became widely available on the black market and over file sharing networks.^[88] In June 2002, Kelly was indicted in Chicago on 21 counts of having sex with a minor, which were later reduced to soliciting a minor for child pornography, seven counts of videotaping the acts, and seven counts of producing child pornography.^[89] That same month, authorities searched Kelly's house in Davenport, Florida. Officers found an unusual amount of commercially manufactured and distributed adult porn in a room.^[90] During the search officers also obtained pictures of an allegedly underage woman on a digital camera – wrapped in a towel in a duffel bag.^[91] Kelly was arrested in January 2003 on those charges. In March 2004, these charges were dropped due to a lack of probable cause for the search warrants.^[92]

After a number of delays, on October 27, 2006, a Cook County, Illinois court hearing for pre-trial motions set the date of the actual trial to February 7, 2007.^[93] On the date of the trial, Kelly's lawyer informed the court that his client was unable to attend because he was "undergoing surgery for a burst appendix". He also announced that Kelly was "in good condition and was expected to be released from the hospital later in the day." Kelly's attorney stated that Kelly (who pleaded not guilty) would be in attendance on the next trial date of February 21, 2007.^[94] It had previously been announced by the court that the videotape that allegedly showed Kelly performing sex acts with an underage woman would be publicly shown as evidence in the trial. The trial, however, was delayed due to disputes over when the tape was made and to give medical recuperation time to the sitting judge following a fall resulting in broken bones. Later the case was set for a September 17 date.^[95] It took more than six years for the case to go to trial. Jury selection began on May 9, 2008, and the trial officially started on May 20 with opening statements from the prosecution and defense. After two weeks, the prosecution's case wrapped on June 3 while the defense's wrapped six days later, on June 9. After less than a day of deliberations, on June 13, 2008, a Chicago jury found Kelly not guilty of all 14 counts.^[96]

Discography[link]

Filmography[link]

• Trapped in the Closet (1–12) (2005)
• Trapped in the Closet (13–22) (2007)
• Trapped in the Closet (1–22) The Big Package (2007)
• R. Kelly Live the Light It Up Tour (2007)
• Trapped in the Closet (22–54) (TBA)

Official tours[link]

• The 12 Play Very Necessary Tour (w/ Salt-N-Pepa) (1994)
• The Down Low Top Secret Tour (w/ LL Cool J, Xscape, and Solo) (1996)
• The Get Up on a Room Tour (w/ Kelly Price, Nas, Foxy Brown, and Deborah Cox) (1999)
• The TP-2.com Tour (w/ Sunshine Anderson & Syleena Johnson) (2001)
• The Key in the Ignition Tour (w/ Ashanti (entertainer)) (2003)
• The Light It Up Tour (2006)
• The Double Up Tour (w/ J. Holiday & Keyshia Cole) (2007)
• The Ladies Make Some Noise Tour (2009)
• Love Letter Tour (w/ Keyshia Cole & Marsha Ambrosius) (2011)

Awards[link]

• American Music Award
  • 1993: Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("Honey Love")
  • 1995: Favorite Soul/R&B Album (12 Play)
  • 1997: Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist
  • 2000: Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist
  • 2005: Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist
  • 2007: Favorite Soul/R&B Album (Double Up)

• BET Awards
  • 2003: Best Male R&B Artist

• Billboard Awards
  • 2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Artist
  • 2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Album (TP2.com)
  • 2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Singles & Tracks ("Fiesta")
  • 2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Artist
  • 2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Album Artist
  • 2001: Top R&B/Hip Hop Album Artist – Male

• BMI Awards
  • 1998: Pop Songwriter of the Year (for "I Believe I Can Fly", "I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)", and "I Don't Want To" (recorded by Toni Braxton))

• Grammy Awards
  • 1998: Best R&B Song ("I Believe I Can Fly")
  • 1998: Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("I Believe I Can Fly")
  • 1998: Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media ("I Believe I Can Fly")

• MOBO Awards
  • 2001: MOBO Outstanding Achievement

• NAACP Image Awards
  • 2001: Outstanding Male Artist
  • 2001: Outstanding Music Video ("I Wish")

• Soul Train Awards
  • 1999: Best R&B/Soul Album, Male (R.)
  • 1999: Sammy Davis Jr. Entertainer of the Year Award
  • 2000: Best R&B/Soul or Rap Album (R.)
  • 2001: Best R&B/Soul Single, Male ("I Wish")
  • 2001: Best R&B/Soul Album, Male (TP2.com)
  • 2004: R&B/Soul Album, Male (Chocolate Factory)
  • 2004: Quincy Jones Award for Outstanding Career Achievements
  • 2006: Stevie Wonder Award for Outstanding Achievements in Song Writing

• Source Hip Hop Awards
  • 1999: R&B Artist of the Year
  • 2001: R&B Artist of the Year

• Vibe Awards
  • 2003: R&B Vanguard Award

^[97][98]

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (March 2012)

External links[link]

	R&B and Soul Music portal
	Hip hop portal
	Chicago portal
	Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: R. Kelly

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• R. Kelly on Facebook
• R. Kelly at the Internet Movie Database

Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder at a conference in Salvador, Brazil, in July 2006
Background information
Birth name	Stevland Hardaway Judkins
Also known as	Stevland Hardaway Morris, Little Stevie Wonder, Eivets Rednow
Born	(1950-05-13) May 13, 1950 (age 62) Saginaw, Michigan, United States
Origin	Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	Soul, pop, R&B, funk, jazz
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, activist
Instruments	Vocals, synthesizer, piano, keyboards, harmonica, clavinet, drums, bass guitar, congas, bongos, melodica, keytar, accordion
Years active	1961–present
Labels	Tamla, Motown
Website	www.steviewonder.net

Stevland Hardaway Morris (born May 13, 1950 as Stevland Hardaway Judkins),^[1] known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, a child prodigy who developed into one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century.^[2] Blind since shortly after birth,^[3] Wonder signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of eleven,^[2] and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day.

Among Wonder's best known works are singles such as "Superstition", "Sir Duke", "I Wish" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You". Well known albums also include Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life.^[2] He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States.^[4] In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace.^[5] In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's fiftieth anniversary, with Wonder at number five.

Early life[link]

Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1950, the third of six children to Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. Owing to his being born six weeks premature, the blood vessels at the back of his eyes had not yet reached the front and their aborted growth caused the retinas to detach.^[3] The medical term for this condition is retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP, and it was exacerbated by the oxygen pumped into his incubator.^[6]

When Stevie Wonder was four, his mother left his father and moved herself and her children to Detroit. She changed her name back to Lula Hardaway and later changed her son's surname to Morris, partly because of relatives. Morris has remained Stevie Wonder's legal surname ever since. He began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica, drums and bass. During childhood he was active in his church choir.

Discovery and early Motown recordings[link]

Ronnie White of The Miracles gives credit to his brother Gerald White for persistently nagging him to come to his friend's house in 1961 to check out Stevie Wonder.^[7] Afterward, White brought Wonder and his mother to Motown. Impressed by the young musician, Motown CEO Berry Gordy signed Wonder to Motown's Tamla label with the name Little Stevie Wonder.^[1] Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave Wonder his trademark name after stating "we can't keep calling him the eighth wonder of the world". He then recorded the regional Detroit single, "I Call It Pretty Music, But the Old People Call It the Blues", which was released on Tamla in late 1961. Wonder released his first two albums, The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie and Tribute to Uncle Ray, in 1962, to little success.

Music career[link]

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Early success: 1963–1971[link]

By age 13, Wonder had a major hit, "Fingertips (Pt. 2)", a 1963 single taken from a live recording of a Motor Town Revue performance, issued on the album Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius. The song, featuring Wonder on vocals, bongos, and harmonica, and a young Marvin Gaye on drums, was a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts, making him the youngest artist to top the former in its history and launching him into the public consciousness.

In 1964, Stevie Wonder made his film debut in Muscle Beach Party as himself, credited as "Little Stevie Wonder". He returned in the sequel released five months later, Bikini Beach. He performed on-screen in both films, singing "Happy Street," and "Happy Feelin' (Dance and Shout)," respectively.

Dropping the "Little" from his name, Wonder went on to have a number of other hits during the mid-1960s, including "Uptight (Everything's Alright)",^[8] "With a Child's Heart", and "Blowin' in the Wind", a Bob Dylan cover, co-sung by his mentor, producer Clarence Paul. He also began to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his label mates, including "Tears of a Clown", a number one hit performed by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles.

In 1968 he recorded an album of instrumental soul/jazz tracks, mostly harmonica solos, under the pseudonym (and title) Eivets Rednow, which is "Stevie Wonder" spelled backwards. The album failed to get much attention, and its only single, a cover of "Alfie", only reached number 66 on the U.S. Pop charts and number 11 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary charts. Nonetheless, he managed to score several hits between 1968 and 1970 such as "I Was Made to Love Her";^[8] "For Once in My Life" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". In September 1970, at the age of 20, Wonder married Syreeta Wright, a songwriter and former Motown secretary. Wright and Wonder co-wrote the songs on the next album, Where I'm Coming From, which did not succeed in the charts. Reaching his twenty-first birthday on May 13, 1971, he allowed his Motown contract to expire.^[9]

In 1970, Wonder co-wrote, and played numerous instruments on the hit "It's a Shame" for fellow Motown act The Spinners. His contribution was meant to be a showcase of his talent and thus a weapon in his ongoing negotiations with Gordy about creative autonomy.^[10]

Classic period: 1972–1976[link]

Wonder independently recorded two albums, which he used as a bargaining tool while negotiating with Motown.^{[citation needed]} Eventually the label agreed to his demands for full creative control and the rights to his own songs. The 120-page contract was a precedent at Motown and gave Wonder a much higher royalty rate.^[11] Wonder returned to Motown in March 1972 with Music of My Mind. Unlike most previous albums on Motown, which usually consisted of a collection of singles, B-sides and covers, Music of My Mind was a full-length artistic statement with songs flowing together thematically.^[11] Wonder's lyrics dealt with social, political, and mystical themes as well as standard romantic ones, while musically Wonder began exploring overdubbing and recording most of the instrumental parts himself.^[11] Music of My Mind marked the beginning of a long collaboration with Tonto's Expanding Head Band (Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil).^[12][13]

	"Superstition" (reduced quality) noicon from Talking Book by Stevie Wonder, Motown 1972-10-27. Sample from Stevie Wonder Song Review: A Greatest Hits Collection, Motown, 1996-12-10
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Released in late 1972, Talking Book featured the No. 1 hit "Superstition",^[14] which is one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner clavinet keyboard.^[15] The song features a rocking groove that garnered Wonder an additional audience on rock radio stations.^{[citation needed]} Talking Book also featured "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", which also peaked at No. 1. During the same time as the album's release, Stevie Wonder began touring with the Rolling Stones to alleviate the negative effects from pigeon-holing as a result of being an R&B artist in America.^[7] Wonder's touring with The Rolling Stones was also a factor behind the success of both "Superstition" and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life".^[11][16] Between them, the two songs won three Grammy Awards.^[17] On an episode of the children's television show Sesame Street that aired in April 1973,^[18] Wonder and his band performed "Superstition", as well as an original song called "Sesame Street Song", which demonstrated his abilities with the "talk box".

Innervisions, released in 1973, featured "Higher Ground" (#4 on the pop charts) as well as the trenchant "Living for the City" (#8).^[14] Both songs reached No. 1 on the R&B charts. Popular ballads such as "Golden Lady" and "All in Love Is Fair" were also present, in a mixture of moods that nevertheless held together as a unified whole.^[19] Innervisions generated three more Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.^[17] The album is ranked #23 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[20] Wonder had become the most influential and acclaimed black musician of the early 1970s.^[11]

On August 6, 1973, Wonder was in a serious automobile accident while on tour in North Carolina, when a car in which he was riding hit the back of a truck.^[11][21] This left him in a coma for four days and resulted in a partial loss of his sense of smell and a temporary loss of sense of taste.^[22] Despite the setback, Wonder re-appeared in concert at Madison Square Garden in March 1974 with a performance that highlighted both up-tempo material and long, building improvisations on mid-tempo songs such as "Living for the City".^[11] The album Fulfillingness' First Finale appeared in July 1974 and set two hits high on the pop charts: the #1 "You Haven't Done Nothin'" and the Top Ten "Boogie On Reggae Woman". The Album of the Year was again one of three Grammys won.^[17]

The same year Wonder took part in a Los Angeles jam session which would become known by the bootleg album A Toot and a Snore in '74.^[23][24] He also co-wrote and produced the Syreeta Wright album Stevie Wonder Presents: Syreeta.^[25][26]

On October 4, 1975, Wonder performed at the historical "Wonder Dream Concert" in Kingston, Jamaica, a benefit for the Jamaican Institute for the Blind.^[27]

By 1975, in his 25th year, Stevie Wonder had won two consecutive Grammy Awards: in 1974 for Innervisions and in 1975 for Fulfillingness' First Finale.^{[citation needed]} In 1975 he featured on the album It's My Pleasure by Billy Preston, playing harmonica on two tracks.^{[not relevant]}

The double album-with-extra-EP Songs in the Key of Life, was released in September 1976. Sprawling in style, unlimited in ambition, and sometimes lyrically difficult to fathom, the album was hard for some listeners to assimilate, yet is regarded by many as Wonder's crowning achievement and one of the most recognizable and accomplished albums in pop music history.^[11][14][28] The album became the first of an American artist to debut straight at #1 in the Billboard charts, where it remained for 14 non-consecutive weeks.^[29] Two tracks, became #1 Pop/R&B hits "I Wish" and "Sir Duke". The baby-celebratory "Isn't She Lovely?" was written about his newborn daughter Aisha, while songs such as "Love's in Need of Love Today" (which years later Wonder would perform at the post-September 11, 2001 America: A Tribute to Heroes telethon) and "Village Ghetto Land" reflected a far more pensive mood. Songs in the Key of Life won Album of the Year and two other Grammys.^[17] The album ranks 56th on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.^[20]

After such a concentrated and sustained level of creativity, Wonder stopped recording for three years, releasing only the 3 LP Looking Back, an anthology of his first Motown period. The albums Wonder released during this period were very influential on the music world: the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide said they "pioneered stylistic approaches that helped to determine the shape of pop music for the next decade";^[14] Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time included four of the five albums, with three in the top 90.^[20]

Commercial period: 1979–1990[link]

It was in Wonder's next phase that he began to commercially reap the rewards of his legendary classic period. The 1980s saw Wonder scoring his biggest hits and reaching an unprecedented level of fame evidenced by increased album sales, charity participation, high-profile collaborations, political impact, and television appearances.

When Wonder did return, it was with the soundtrack album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants (1979), featured in the film The Secret Life of Plants. Mostly instrumental, the album was composed using the Computer Music Melodian, an early sampler. Wonder toured briefly in support of the album, and used a Fairlight CMI sampler on stage.^[30] In this year Wonder also wrote and produced the dance hit "Let's Get Serious", performed by Jermaine Jackson and (ranked by Billboard as the #1 R&B single of 1980).

Hotter than July (1980) became Wonder's first platinum-selling single album, and its single "Happy Birthday" was a successful vehicle for his campaign to establish Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday. The album also included "Master Blaster (Jammin')", "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It", and the sentimental ballad, "Lately".

In 1982, Wonder released a retrospective of his 1970s work with Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium, which included four new songs: the ten-minute funk classic "Do I Do" (which featured Dizzy Gillespie), "That Girl" (one of the year's biggest singles to chart on the R&B side), "Front Line", a narrative about a soldier in the Vietnam War that Stevie Wonder wrote and sang in the 1st person, and "Ribbon in the Sky", one of his many classic compositions. Wonder also gained a #1 hit that year in collaboration with Paul McCartney in their paean to racial harmony, "Ebony and Ivory".

In 1983, Wonder performed the song "Stay Gold", the theme to Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders. Wonder wrote the lyrics.

In 1983, Wonder scheduled an album to be entitled "People Work, Human Play." The album never surfaced and instead 1984 saw the release of Wonder's soundtrack album for The Woman in Red. The lead single, "I Just Called to Say I Love You", was a #1 pop and R&B hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom, where it was placed 13th in the list of best-selling singles in the UK published in 2002. It went on to win an Academy Award for "Best Song" in 1985. The album also featured a guest appearance by Dionne Warwick, singing the duet "It's You" with Stevie and a few songs of her own. The following year's In Square Circle featured the #1 pop hit "Part-Time Lover". The album also has a Top 10 Hit with "Go Home." It also featured the ballad "Overjoyed" which was originally written for Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants, but didn't make the album. He performed "Overjoyed" on Saturday Night Live when he was the host. He was also featured in Chaka Khan's cover of Prince's "I Feel For You", alongside Melle Mel, playing his signature harmonica. In roughly the same period he was also featured on harmonica on Eurythmics' single, "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" and Elton John's "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues".

By 1985, Stevie Wonder was an American icon,^{[citation needed]} the subject of good-humored jokes about blindness and affectionately impersonated by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live.^{[citation needed]} Wonder sometimes joined in the jokes himself such as in The Motown Revue with Smokey Robinson. He was in a featured duet with Bruce Springsteen on the all-star charity single for African Famine Relief, "We Are the World", and he was part of another charity single the following year (1986), the AIDS-inspired "That's What Friends Are For". He also played the harmonica on the album Dreamland Express by John Denver in the song "If Ever", a song Wonder co-wrote with Stephanie Andrews. He also wrote the track "I Do Love You" for The Beach Boys' 1985 self-titled album. Stevie Wonder also played the harmonica on a track called "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" from "Showboat" on "The Broadway Album" by Barbra Streisand.

In 1986, Stevie Wonder appeared on The Cosby Show, as himself, in the episode "A Touch of Wonder".

In 1987, Wonder appeared on Michael Jackson's Bad album on the duet "Just Good Friends". Michael Jackson also sang a duet with him titled "Get It" on Wonder's 1987 album Characters. This was a minor hit single, as were "Skeletons" and "You Will Know". In the fall of 1988, Wonder duetted with Julio Iglesias on the hit single "My Love", which appeared on Iglesias' album Non Stop.^{[citation needed]}

Later career: 1991–2001[link]

Stevie Wonder at the Grammy Awards of 1990

After 1987's Characters LP, Wonder continued to release new material, but at a slower pace. He recorded a soundtrack album for Spike Lee's film Jungle Fever in 1991. From this album, singles and videos were released for "Gotta Have You" and "These Three Words". The B-side to the "Gotta Have You" single was "Feeding Off The Love Of The Land", which was played during the end credits of the movie Jungle Fever but was not included on the soundtrack. A piano and vocal version of "Feeding Off The Love Of The Land" was also released on the Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal compilation. It is rumored that "Feeding Off The Love Of The Land" was originally intended for release on Fulfillingness' First Finale Volume Two, a project that has never been confirmed as completed.

Conversation Peace and the live album Natural Wonder were also released in the 1990s. The former received its European launch at a high-profile March 1995 press conference in Paris, where Stevie mentioned how the tearing down of The Wall between East and West Berlin and the desire for a united Europe had played a significant part in the inspiration behind the album.^[31]

In 1994, Wonder made a guest appearance on the KISS cover album KISS My Ass: Classic KISS Regrooved, playing harmonica and supplying background vocals for the song "Deuce", performed by Lenny Kravitz.

In 1996, Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life was selected as a documentary subject for the Classic Albums documentary series. This series dedicates 60 minutes to one groundbreaking record per feature. The same year, he performed John Lennon's song "Imagine" in the closing ceremony of the Atlanta Olympic Games.^[32] The same year, Wonder performed in a remix of "Seasons of Love" from the Jonathan Larson musical Rent.^[33]

In 1997, Wonder collaborated with Babyface for a song about abuse (domestic violence) called "How Come, How Long" which was nominated for an award.^{[citation needed]}

In December 1999, Wonder announced that he was interested in pursuing an intraocular retinal prosthesis to partially restore his sight.^[34] That same year, Wonder was featured on harmonica in the Sting song "Brand New Day".^[35]

In 2000, Stevie Wonder contributed two new songs to the soundtrack for Spike Lee's Bamboozled album ("Misrepresented People" and "Some Years Ago").^[36]

Current career: 2002–present[link]

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In March 2002, Wonder performed at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City.^[37]

On July 2, 2005, Wonder performed in the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia.^[38]

Wonder's first new album in ten years, A Time to Love, was released on October 18, 2005, after having been pushed back from first a May, and then a June release. The album was released electronically on September 27, 2005, exclusively on Apple's iTunes Music Store. The first single, "So What the Fuss", was released in April. A second single, "From the Bottom of My Heart" was a hit on adult-contemporary R&B radio. The album also featured a duet with India.Arie on the title track "A Time to Love".

Wonder performed at the pre-game show for Super Bowl XL in Detroit in early 2006, singing various hit singles (with his four-year-old son on drums) and accompanying Aretha Franklin during "The Star Spangled Banner".

Stevie Wonder at a conference in Salvador, Brazil, in July 2006

In March 2006, Wonder received new national exposure on the top-rated American Idol television program. Wonder performed "My Love Is on Fire" (from A Time To Love) live on the show itself. In June 2006, Stevie Wonder made a guest appearance on Busta Rhymes' new album, The Big Bang on the track "Been through the Storm". He sings the refrain and plays the piano on the Dr. Dre and Sha Money XL produced track. He appeared again on the last track of Snoop Dogg's new album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, "Conversations". The song is a remake of "Have a Talk with God" from Songs in the Key of Life.

In 2006, Wonder staged a duet with Andrea Bocelli on the latter's album Amore, offering harmonica and additional vocals on "Canzoni Stonate". Stevie Wonder also performed at Washington, D.C.'s 2006 "A Capitol Fourth" celebration.

On August 2, 2007, Stevie Wonder announced the A Wonder Summer's Night 13 concert tour—his first U.S. tour in over ten years. This tour was inspired by the recent passing of his mother, as he stated at the conclusion of the tour on December 9 at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

Wonder performs during the final day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

On August 28, 2008, Wonder performed at the Democratic National Convention at Invesco Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado. Songs included a previously unreleased song, "Fear Can't Put Dreams to Sleep," and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours".^[39]

On September 8, 2008, Wonder started the European leg of his Wonder Summer's Night Tour, the first time he had toured Europe in over a decade. His opening show was at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. During the tour, Wonder played eight UK gigs; four at The O2 Arena in London, two in Birmingham and two at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester. Stevie Wonder's other stops in the tour's European leg also found him performing in Holland (Rotterdam), Sweden (Stockholm), Germany (Cologne, Mannheim and Munich), Norway (Hamar), France (Paris), Italy (Milan) and Denmark (Aalborg). Wonder also toured Australia (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane) and New Zealand (Christchurch, Auckland and New Plymouth) in October and November.^[40]

By June 2008, Wonder was working on two projects simultaneously: a new album titled The Gospel Inspired By Lula which will deal with the various spiritual and cultural crises facing the world, and Through The Eyes Of Wonder, an album which Wonder has described as a performance piece that will reflect his experience as a blind man. Wonder was also keeping the door open for a collaboration with Tony Bennett and Quincy Jones concerning a rumored jazz album.^[41] If Wonder was to join forces with Bennett, it would not be for the first time; Their rendition of "For Once in My Life" earned them a Grammy for best pop collaboration with vocals in 2006.^[17] Wonder's harmonica playing can be heard on the 2009 Grammy-nominated "Never Give You Up" featuring CJ Hilton and Raphael Saadiq.^[42]

Wonder is presented the Gershwin Award for Lifetime Achievement by United States president Barack Obama.

Wonder performed on January 18, 2009 at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. On Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, Wonder performed the song "Brand New Day" with musician Sting. He performed his new song "All About the Love Again" and, with other musical artists, "Signed, Sealed & Delivered". On February 23, 2009, Wonder became the second recipient of the Library of Congress's Gershwin Prize for pop music, honored by President Barack Obama at the White House.^[43]

On July 7, 2009, Wonder performed "Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer" and "They Won't Go When I Go" at the Staples Center for Michael Jackson's memorial service.^[44] On October 29, 2009, Wonder performed at the 25th anniversary concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Among songs with B.B. King, Wonder performed Michael Jackson's 'The Way You Make Me Feel', during which he became distraught and was unable to continue until he regained his composure.

Wonder at the October 16, 2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial dedication concert

On January 22, 2010, Wonder performed Bridge Over Troubled Water for the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief event to help victims of the earthquake in Port-au-Prince on January 12, 2010.

On March 6, 2010, Wonder was awarded the Commander of the Arts and Letters by French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand. Wonder had been due to receive this award in 1981, but scheduling problems prevented this from happening. A lifetime achievement award was also given to Wonder on the same day, at France's biggest music awards.^[45]

His 2010 tour included a two-hour set at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee,^[46] a stop at London's "Hard Rock Calling" in Hyde Park, and appearances at England's Glastonbury Festival, Rotterdam's North Sea Jazz Festival, and a concert in Bergen, Norway and a concert in Dublin, Ireland at the O2 Arena on June 24.

In February 2011, the Apollo Theater announced that Stevie Wonder will be the next in line for the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame. The theater said that the singer will be inducted into the New York City institution's Hall of Fame in five months.^[47]

On June 25, 2011, Wonder performed at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.^[48] On January 28, 2012, Wonder and Christina Aguilera gave a musical tribute at Etta James' funeral. Wonder played "Shelter in the Rain" and The Lord's Prayer while while Aguilera sang "At Last."^[49]

Wonder performed at the February 19, 2012 memorial service for Whitney Houston at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. He changed some of the lyrics of his song Ribbon in the Sky in dedication to Ms. Houston.^[50]

Legacy[link]

A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and won twenty-two Grammy Awards^[17] (the most ever won by a solo artist) as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also won an Academy Award for Best Song,^[51] and been inducted into both the Rock and Roll^[52] and Songwriters^[53] halls of fame. He has also been awarded the Polar Music Prize.^[54] American music magazine Rolling Stone named him the ninth greatest singer of all time.^[55][56] In June 2009 he became the fourth artist to receive the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award.^[57] Stevie Wonder was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame in 2005.^[58] His hit recording of "Superstition" was selected as a Legendary Michigan Song in 2010.^[59]

He has ten U.S. number-one hits on the pop charts as well as 20 R&B number one hits, and album sales totaling more than 100 million units. Wonder has recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and writes and produces songs for many of his label mates and outside artists as well. Wonder plays the piano, synthesizer, harmonica, congas, drums, bass guitar, bongos, organ, melodica, and clavinet. In his childhood, he was best known for his harmonica work, but today he is better known for his keyboard skills and vocal ability. Wonder was the first Motown artist and second African American musician to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song for his 1984 hit single "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from the movie The Woman in Red.^{[citation needed]}

Classic period[link]

Wonder's "classic period" is generally agreed to consist of the concept albums^[60] he created in the early- to mid-1970s, peaking in 1976.^[61] Some observers see in 1971's Where I'm Coming From certain indications of the beginning of the classic period, such as its new funky keyboard style which Wonder used throughout the classic period.^[61] Some determine Wonder's first "classic" album to be 1972's Music of My Mind, on which he attained personal control of production, and on which he programmed a series of songs integrated with one another to make a concept album.^[61] Others skip over early 1972 and determine the beginning of the classic period to be Talking Book in late 1972,^[62] the album in which Wonder "hit his stride".^[61]

Impact[link]

Wonder's songs are renowned for being quite difficult to sing. He has a very developed sense of harmony and uses many extended chords utilizing extensions such as ninths, elevenths, thirteenths, diminished fifths, etc. in his compositions. Many of his melodies make abrupt, unpredictable changes. Many of his vocal melodies are also melismatic, meaning that a syllable is sung over several notes. Some of his best known and most frequently covered songs are played in keys which are more often found in jazz than in pop and rock. For example, "Superstition", "Higher Ground" and "I Wish" are in the key of E flat minor, and feature distinctive riffs in the E flat minor pentatonic scale (i.e. largely on the black notes of the keyboard).^{[citation needed]}