NEW YORK — R. Kelly has been convicted in a sex trafficking trial after several accusers testified in lurid detail how he subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.
A New York City jury of seven men and five women found Kelly guilty Monday on a racketeering charge. Kelly was accused of running a Chicago-based criminal enterprise that recruited his accusers for unwanted sex and mental torment.
The R&B superstar has been in and out of the spotlight because of his alleged actions. He has long faced and denied lurid behavior and sex abuse. So how did we arrive at Monday's verdict?
Born on Jan. 8, 1967, Robert Sylvester Kelly was the third of four children of schoolteacher Joann Kelly in Chicago. At the age of eight, Kelly began singing in his local church and would perform in subway stations with a keyboard.
He would be discovered in 1990 by Jive Records executive Wayne Williams at a barbecue. Two years later and R. Kelly's debut album "Born Into The '90s" is released. The record would go platinum the following year.
The early to mid-90s would be nothing but success for Kelly. He would sell millions of records and release his most famous song "I Believe I Can Fly."
However, in 1997, he would face his first bit of controversy. Tiffany Hawking filed a complaint alleging sexual battery and harassment when she was a minor. Hawkins' lawsuit would be settled for $250,000. Kelly would face a similar lawsuit by Tracy Sampson four years later. The case would also be reportedly settled out of court.
2002 was the year the Chicago Sun-Times reported that it received a videotape showing Kelly having sex with a minor. Months after the report, Kelly would be indicted in Chicago on child porn charges stemming from the sex tape. He would plead not guilty and be released on bail. The following year, Kelly would be arrested again on child porn charges - this time in Florida. Investigators said they found photos of him with a girl. The charges would be dropped after a judge ruled that police did not have a warrant to arrest Kelly.
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He would stay out of the limelight for more than a decade but previous allegations would resurface in 2018 when the Time's Up campaign pushed for an investigation into Kelly. Around that same time, Spotify would start taking down R. Kelly's music from its playlists. Apple and Pandora would follow suit.
It wasn't until January 2019 that Kelly would once again face criminal charges after Lifetime aired its "Surviving R. Kelly" documentary. The two-part documentary would revisit old allegations and air new ones against Kelly.
The following month, Kelly would be arrested on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse. He would plead not guilty and post bail. Months later, Kelly would face 11 new charges involving a woman who accused him of abusing her when she was underage.
Between May 2019 and Aug. 2020, Kelly would face several other criminal charges, including child pornography, racketeering, and sexual abuse. Two more accusers would come forward during that period of time.
On Aug. 18, 2021, Kelly's federal sex-trafficking trial would begin in New York.
The trial saw more accusers, including a man, make more disturbing allegations. A former assistant would even provide a glimpse into the singer's inner circle.
Sept. 27 is when a jury would find R. Kelly guilty.