First there were reports of a secret marriage to a teenager. Then there were lawsuits and a high-profile court case. Now there’s a documentary series and new criminal charges.
This article was updated on Feb. 22,2019.
For more than two decades, the R&B singer who performs as R. Kelly has faced allegations of sexually abusing minors.
First there were rumors, and reports of a secret marriage to a teenager. Then there were lawsuits. Then there was an indictment and a high-profile court case in which he was acquitted after years of delay.
Through it all, Robert Kelly, 52, continued to perform and release albums. But a grass-roots movement against him appears to have taken its toll, and a new documentary series, “Surviving R. Kelly,” amplified the voices of his accusers. On Friday, Mr. Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in connection with four victims.
Mr. Kelly’s first solo album, “12 Play,” was released in 1993 and propelled the singer to fame with chart-topping singles including “Bump N’ Grind” and “Your Body’s Callin.”
In 1994, when Mr. Kelly was 27, he reportedly married Aaliyah Haughton, who was 15 but was listed as 18 on a wedding certificate, according to Vibe Magazine, which published the certificate. The magazine later reported that Ms. Haughton’s parents annulled the union. Ms. Haughton, who performed as Aaliyah, became a popular singer but died in a plane crash in 2001.
And in 1996,Mr. Kelly, then 29, married a dancer, Andrea Lee, who was 22. They divorced in 2009.
In December 1996, a lawsuit filed against Mr. Kelly claimed that he had sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 24, The Chicago Sun-Times reported in 2000 .
The reporter and music critic Jim DeRogatis, who worked on that story, never stopped investigating the accusations against Mr. Kelly and has spent years bringing women’s claims against him to light.
In January 1998,Mr. Kelly settled with the woman who had sued him, Tiffany Hawkins, after she gave a long deposition about the alleged abuse in court. The next month, he won three Grammys for his hit single “I Believe I Can Fly.”
In 2001 another lawsuit, filed by Tracy Sampson, accused Mr.
