The earliest accusations date back to the 1990s, the time of Kelly’s greatest successes. If I could turn back the hands of time on I believe I can fly became world hits and his singles and albums sold tens of millions of copies.
It was also the time when rumors grew about Kelly’s preference for young girls. In 1994, at the age of 27, he married singer Aaliyah, then 15 years old. The marriage was annulled because she lied about her age.
Prosecutors are now trying to show that Kelly was via bribe arranged a false ID that stated that Aaliyah was 18 years old. The singer died in a plane crash in 2001.
Never convicted
Several women have accused him of abuse since the 1990s, but he was never convicted. Kelly was acquitted of making child porn in 2008. At the beginning of 2019, the singer’s behavior was widely reported in the documentary Surviving R. Kelly. He was arrested a few months later.
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Kelly, denies that he did anything wrong. The start of the process was postponed several times due to corona. The case in New York is expected to last about a month.
It is not the only state where the singer has been accused of sexual abuse. Similar charges are pending in Illinois and Minnesota, and Kelly also contradicts those accusations.
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