"I was like, 'What can I do? Well, I guess I should do what I've been doing all my life and just get paid for it." Her hard work paid paid off, however, and in 1998, she signed a recording deal with Virgin Records.Īfter high school, Kelis beefed up her resume, working with a throng of A-list rappers and R&B artists.
"I didn't want to work a 9-to-5 job," Kelis told Entertainment Weekly.
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"It was a real struggle at first and I was far too busy trying to figure out how to feed myself to even think about music." To make ends meet, she tended bar and worked in clothing stores. "Things weren't as easy as I thought they'd be," she told the New Zealand Herald in April of 2000.
At 16, by now arguing constantly with her parents, Kelis ventured out on her own. In 1997 she sang backup on "Fairytalz" for RZA's side project, Gravediggaz. There she formed an R&B trio called BLU (Black Ladies United), which caught the attention of hip-hop producer Goldfinghaz, who introduced Kelis to the Wu Tang Clan's RZA. Her signature fashion style developed out of the colorful, custom-made outfits her designer mother sewed for the Rogers girls to wear to school.Īt the age of 14 Kelis enrolled in LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she studied drama and theater. She also followed in her three older sister's footsteps and sang with the Girls Choir of Harlem.
At her mother's urging, Kelis began studying classical violin at age two (she continued her studies for 14 years) and picked up the saxophone as a teenager. Rogers, who played with artists like Dizzy Gillespie and Nancy Wilson. From the age of four, Kelis was performing in nightclubs across the country with her jazz saxophonist father, Kenneth G. But whether it's her untamed locks, suggestive lyrics, or her hybrid musical style, there's one thing Kelis was determined to do from the beginning: get people's attention.īorn on August 21, 1980, in Harlem, New York's epicenter for jazz and the arts, Kelis (pronounced Kuhleese) Rogers had an early interest in music, thanks to encouragement from both parents. So far the bold singer has remained a woman of her word -churning out one sexy, catchy and traffic-stopping hit after another -and doing it her way. Limited edition."I don't deal well with authority, and I don't like being predictable," Kelis told Entertainment Weekly in December of 2003. Originally released in 1999, this 2LP set is pressed on translucent orange vinyl. Their work signaled a new shift in R&B, making it clear that, with Kelis up front, they were coming for the Timbaland/Missy Elliott crown. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo not only handled production on the album, but took on instrumentation duties as well, playing all of the instruments live themselves. Kaleidoscope was Kelis’ debut album, but it was also a Neptunes brainchild, through and through. A coming-of-age tale set to thumping bass and wheezing synths, it eschewed Y2K hysteria for an exploration of love – the love of others, love of self, love of experience – and how to learn from all of it. "Released on December 7, 1999, Kelis’ Kaleidoscope arrived just as the millennium was coming to a close.
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