Kelis is an American singer-songwriter best known for her singles Milkshake and Bossy. The singer began her musical career in 1997. Thanks to her work with the production duo The Neptunes, her debut single Caught Out There quickly became popular and hit the top 10 of the best R&B songs. Thanks to the song Milkshake and the album Kelis Was Here, the singer received Grammy Award nominations and wide recognition in the media space.
The early years of the singer Kelis
Kelis Rogers was born and raised in Manhattan. Parents came up with the name of the singer by combining parts of their names - Kenneth and Evelisse. Her father was a lecturer at Wesleyan University. He then became a jazz musician and a Pentecostal minister. Mother worked as a fashion designer, she contributed to the girl's music lessons. The performer also has three sisters.
From the age of four, Kelis performed in nightclubs around the country with her father. He has played with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Nancy Wilson. At the insistence of her mother, the singer studied classical violin since childhood. She started playing the saxophone as a teenager. Following the example of her three older sisters, Kelis sang in the Harlem choir for a while. For performances, the girls' mother came up with colorful designer outfits and sewed them to order.
At 14, Kelis entered LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts. She chose the direction associated with dramaturgy and theater. Here, during her studies, the singer created an R&B trio called BLU (Black Ladies United). After a while, the band got interested in hip-hop producer Goldfinghaz. He introduced Kelis and the other members to rapper RZA.
Kelis's relationship with her parents deteriorated during her teenage years. And at the age of 16, she began to live on her own. According to the artist, it turned out to be more difficult than she thought: “It was not so easy. It became a real struggle. I was too busy trying to figure out how to feed myself, so I didn't even think about music." To make ends meet, the girl had to work in a bar and in clothing stores.
“I didn’t want to work from 9 to 17 every day. Then I had to think about what I could do to live the way I wanted to. At that moment, I decided to return to the music that I had been doing all my adult life, and just get paid for it.
The beginning of the musical career of the singer Kelis
The Neptunes production team helped launch Kelis' musical career. In 1998, the singer signed a contract with Virgin Records. She began working on the studio album Kaleidoscope, which was released in December 1999. It included the singles Caught Out There, Good Stuff and Get Along with Yo. Prior to the release of the record, these songs were commercially successful, and listeners' interest in Kaleidoscope increased. 14 tracks produced by The Neptunes. Unfortunately, the album performed very poorly in the United States. Nevertheless, Kaleidoscope managed to get into the middle of the charts in European countries. For example, in the UK, he took the 43rd position and was recognized as "gold".
In 2001, the singer released her second album Wanderland. It was only available in Europe, Asia and Latin America. In the United States, it could not be heard. At the time of work on the record from the Virgin Records label, the producers who helped the performer with Kaleidoscope were fired. The new employees of the company did not believe in the success of the album, so they did not pay much attention to production. Because of this, the Wanderland compilation was a commercial "failure". He managed to take only 78th position in the UK. The only successful single was Young, Fresh n' New, which reached the top 40 in the UK. Kelis's relationship with Virgin Records deteriorated due to low record sales. Therefore, the label management decided to terminate the contract with the singer.
Singer Kelis conflict with Virgin Records
Kelis gave an interview in 2020 in which she talked about how she didn't make any money from her first two albums because of The Neptunes. Speaking to The Guardian, the singer explained: "I was told we were going to split everything on 33/33/33, but we didn't." Initially, the artist did not notice the disappearance of funds, because at that moment she was making money on tour. When Kelis realized that she had not been paid a share for the work, she turned to the leadership of the production duo.
They explained to her that all the points regarding money were indicated in the contract, which the singer herself signed. “Yes, I signed what I was told. Unfortunately, I was too young and stupid to double-check all the agreements, ”commented the performer.
The success of the third Kelis album and the rapid increase in popularity
After leaving Virgin Records, Kelis began working on a third album. The singer decided to release the disc under the auspices of Star Trak and Arista Records. The album Tasty included 4 singles: Milkshake, Trick Me, Millionaire and In Public. Milkshake became the artist's most popular song in her career. Also thanks to this single, it was possible to attract the attention of the audience to the studio album released in December 2003.
The composition was written and produced by The Neptunes. However, it was originally envisaged that it would be performed by Britney Spears. When Spears turned down the song, it was offered to Kelis. According to the artist, the "milkshake" in the song is used as a metaphor for "something that makes women special." The song is known for its euphemistic chorus and low R&B rhythm. When creating Milkshake, Kelis "knew right away that it was a really good song" and wanted it to be the album's first single.
The single peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 2003. It was later certified Gold in the United States, where it sold 883 paid downloads. Moreover, in 2004, the song was nominated for "Best Urban or Alternative Performance" (Grammy Award).
The third album, Tasty, received positive reviews from critics. They noted the originality and improved quality of songs and sound compared to the previous works of the performer. On the disc you can hear tracks featuring Saadiq, André 3000 and Nas (the then boyfriend of the singer). In its first week, the album peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200. It also became the artist's second album (after Kelis Was Here (2006)) to top the charts.
Release of Kelis Was Here and second Grammy nomination for Kelis
In August 2006, the singer released her fourth album Kelis Was Here on Jive Records. It debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. However, the performer failed to receive the award. During the ceremony, Beyoncé was announced as the winner.
The international version of the album consisted of 19 tracks. Among them were songs featuring will.i.am, Nas, Cee-Lo, Too Short and Spragga Benz. The lead single was Bossy, recorded with rapper Too Short. The song peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the RIAA. The other two singles released to "promote" the album were Blindfold Me with Nas and Lil Star with Cee-Lo.
The Kelis Was Here record received positive reviews from music critics. On Metacritic, the album has a score of 70 based on 23 reviews.
How did Kelis' musical career develop further?
In 2010, under the auspices of the record companies will.i.am Music Group and Interscope Records, the singer released her fifth studio album. If previous works were recorded mainly in the R&B genre, then this record was new in sound. The songs combined styles such as electronic dance-dance-pop and electropop, which included elements of house, synth-pop and dancehall. The performer was engaged in writing and recording compositions when she was pregnant with her first child. According to her, "this album is an ode to motherhood." Flesh Tone debuted at number 48 on the US Billboard 200. It sold 7800 copies in its first week.
The next album Food came out only 4 years later. The singer changed her sound again, using a combination of different styles: funk, neo-soul, Memphis soul and afrobeat. The singer's voice was described by critics as "hoarse and smoky". The record "did not advance" above number 73 on the Billboard 200, but managed to reach number 4 on the UK Top R&B Albums Chart.
In 2020, Kelis announced a UK and European tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her debut album Kaleidoscope. The singer gave concerts in 9 cities from 3 to 17 March. In May 2021, the singer's Instagram stories revealed that she was planning to release her seventh studio album, Sound Mind.
Kelis cooking classes
From 2006 to 2010 Kelis trained at the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. There she mainly studied sauces, received a diploma in their preparation. The artist decided to leave the music for a while and presented the Saucy and Sweet show on the Cooking Channel in 2014. A year later, she released the book My Life on a Plate.
It is noteworthy that the launch of the cooking show coincided with the release of the fourth studio album Food. Now Kelis was known not only as a musician, but also as a cook. To promote the record, she filmed video recipes for Supper, a web-based cooking app powered by Spotify.
In 2016, there was a lot of noise around the performer in the media space when she became a partner of Andy Taylor, one of the founders of the Le Bun restaurant. Together they planned to open a hamburger restaurant at Soho's Leicester House. Now Kelis is focusing on the Bounty & Full line of sauces, launched in 2015. According to the singer, only natural ingredients are used in the mixtures to create an "accessory to the dish."
Kelis' personal life
Kelis is now married to real estate agent Mike Mora. The wedding took place in December 2014. In November 2015, the couple had a son named Shepherd. On August 5, 2020, the singer announced that she was pregnant with Mike for the second time and was expecting a daughter. The girl was born in September 2020, her name has not yet been disclosed.
Previously, the singer was married to rapper Nas. The couple married on January 8, 2005, however, she filed for divorce in April 2009. From Nasir, the singer has a son, Knight Jones, who was born in July 2009.
In 2018, Kelis opened up about the physical and mental abuse she endured in her marriage to Nas. The performer mentioned that the main problem in their relationship was the rapper's alcohol addiction. She also pointed out that Nasir had an extramarital relationship. And he hasn't paid alimony on Knight since the beginning of 2012.
