Kelis
Kelis Rogers (/kəˈliːs/;[2] born August 21, 1979), known mononymously as Kelis, is an American singer-songwriter and chef.[3] She attended New York's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts,[4] where she learned to play the saxophone and won a spot in the Girls Choir of Harlem.[5] Upon graduation, Rogers soon landed a role as a backing vocalist for the hip hop group Gravediggaz. She then began working with music producers Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, collectively known as the Neptunes, who led her to sign with Virgin Records in 1998.[6][7]
Kelis
- Singer
- songwriter
- chef
- restaurateur
1997–present
-
Mike Mora(m. 2014; died 2022)
3
Rogers released her debut studio album, Kaleidoscope through the label in December 1999. Inspired by jazz and disco music from the 1970s, the album was met with critical acclaim despite domestic commercial failure; it instead found moderate success on international charts.[8] Spawning three singles: "Caught Out There", "Good Stuff" (featuring Pusha T), and "Get Along with You", the album reached number 43 on the UK Albums Chart and earned gold certification by the country's British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[9] She parted ways with Virgin Records after her second album, Wanderland (2001) received poor sales—not seeing a domestic release until 2019. After signing with the Neptunes' Star Trak Entertainment, Rogers released her third studio album, Tasty (2003) to a commercial breakthrough while earning continued critical praise. The album was led by the singles "Milkshake", "Trick Me", "Millionaire" (featuring André 3000), and "In Public" (featuring Nas). Her fourth album, Kelis Was Here (2006)—preceded by the single "Bossy" (featuring Too Short)—reached number ten on the Billboard 200. Rogers took a hiatus from music after its release, venturing into culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu.
She later signed with will.i.am Music Group to release her fifth album, Flesh Tone (2010), which explored electronic music. Two of its singles, "Acapella" and "4th of July (Fireworks)" found success on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart and the UK Dance Singles Chart. Tying-in with her culinary career, she released her sixth studio album Food (2014), which became her second top-20 album in the UK and spawned three singles: "Jerk Ribs", "Rumble" and "Friday Fish Fry". The album explored a neo soul recording style.[10][11][12]
Rogers has been recognized at the Brit Awards, Q Awards, NME Awards, and Grammy Awards.[13] Her musical output as a lead and featured artist encompasses various genres. She has collaborated with R&B and hip hop acts including Nas (whom she married in 2005), Busta Rhymes, Outkast, and Puff Daddy; electronic and dance producers such as Calvin Harris, Disclosure, Giorgio Moroder, Timo Maas, and Richard X; pop and rock acts Enrique Iglesias, Duran Duran, and No Doubt; and indie and alternative musicians including Björk and Dave Sitek. She has sold 6 million records worldwide[14] and has had particular success in the United Kingdom, where ten of her singles have peaked within the top ten of the UK Singles Chart.
Early life[edit]
Rogers was born and raised in the Frederick Douglass Houses in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. Her first name is a portmanteau of her father's name, Kenneth (1944–2000), and her mother's name, Eveliss. Her father Kenneth was an African-American jazz musician and Pentecostal minister and was formerly a professor at Wesleyan University.[15] Her mother Eveliss is a Chinese-Puerto Rican fashion designer who inspired Rogers to pursue her singing career. She has three sisters, two older and one younger.[16]
As a child, Rogers sang in church choirs and played violin, piano, and saxophone while attending Manhattan Country School, a private school. At 13, she shaved off all of her hair. In an interview, Rogers says she was kicked out of her parents' house at 16 for bad behavior, stating that she would sometimes clash with her mother,[15] but continued her education at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she formed the R&B trio BLU (Black Ladies United). She was also a bartender and a sales associate at a clothing store before graduating high school.
Career[edit]
1997–2002: Kaleidoscope and Wanderland[edit]
In 1997, Kelis provided background vocals on "Fairytalez", a track on hip hop group Gravediggaz's album The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel. Afterward, a friend introduced Kelis to The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo); they formed a strong bond, and with their support she landed a record deal with Virgin Records. According to Kelis, Virgin Records advised her that publishing royalties would be split evenly among Williams, Hugo, and herself; however, Kelis made no money from sales of her first two albums on the label.[17][18] Kelis has said that Williams was credited as a songwriter on songs of hers that he had not written.[19]
Kelis began recording her debut album Kaleidoscope in mid-1998 and was finished within a year. Produced by The Neptunes and released by Virgin Records in 1999, Kaleidoscope peaked at number 144 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and reached the top five on the Top Heatseekers chart.[20] As of 2006, the album has sold 249,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[21] Its lead and most notable single "Caught Out There" became a top 10 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs hit and peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100.[20] During this time, Kelis featured on Ol' Dirty Bastard's U.S. top 40 single "Got Your Money".
The album performed better in Europe, where "Caught Out There" was a moderate hit in most European countries except the United Kingdom, where the song saw massive success, peaking at number four on the UK Singles Chart. The single "Good Stuff" (featuring Terrar of Clipse) reached number 19; another single "Get Along with You" was less successful, reaching number 51.[22] The British Phonographic Industry certified Kaleidoscope gold for sales of 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom,[23] where it reached number 43 on the UK Albums Chart.
In 2001, Kelis won the Brit Award for International Breakthrough Act and the NME Award for Best R&B/Soul Act, then joined Moby and U2 on the Area:One and Elevation tours, respectively. Kelis and the Neptunes' output at this time was heralded as foreshadowing an innovation in contemporary R&B, but she later said "I was never an R&B artist. People coined me one but that's because, especially if you're in the States, if you're black and you sing, then you're R&B".[13] Her colorful style in both clothing and hair received considerable attention.[24]
Kelis's second album Wanderland was released in 2001 in Europe, Asia, and Latin America but did not receive a North American release until 2019.[25] According to Kelis, Virgin Records, her U.S. record company at the time, had laid off those that worked on Kaleidoscope; their replacements did not understand or believe in Wanderland. Eventually, Kelis was dropped from Virgin around the time of the album's European release, but she remained on the label's roster in Europe.[26][27] A commercial failure, Wanderland peaked at number 78 in the UK; its only single "Young, Fresh n' New" managed to crack the top 40 on the UK Singles Chart.[28][22] The album, which was produced in its entirety by the Neptunes and features collaborations with members of Clipse and No Doubt, received a subdued critical response.[29] NME wrote: "In our collective fantasies, Kelis Rogers is already the ghetto-fabulous sex-queen of discodelic future-funk pop-rock-soul...But beyond the initial shopping-and-funking dazzle, there is way too much filler here for a hotly hyped alterna-soul princess with her eyes on the big prize".[30] The Fader later referred to Wanderland as "Kelis's long lost masterpiece".[31]
In 2002, Kelis recorded "So Be It" for the Red Hot Organization's Fela Kuti tribute CD Red Hot and Riot, from which all proceeds were donated to AIDS-awareness charities. The same year, she had a top 20 U.S. club hit with a remix of "Young, Fresh 'n' New", produced by Timo Maas, who featured Kelis on his single "Help Me".[20][22] She hosted the DanceStar USA Awards ceremony at that year's Winter Music Conference.[28]
2003–2005: Tasty[edit]
In 2003, Kelis achieved a second top 10 hit in the UK as a featured artist on Richard X's "Finest Dreams", a reworking of the S.O.S. Band's 1986 single "The Finest", and a European club hit (and UK top 40 single) as a featured artist on "Let's Get Ill" by P. Diddy, her manager for a brief period.[32][22][33] She found mainstream success in the U.S. later in 2003 with her Hot Dance Club Play number one, Billboard Hot 100 top three single "Milkshake"; this single helped to propel her third album Tasty to gold status in the U.S., where it peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 533,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[20][34][35] "Milkshake" also went gold, selling over 500,000 copies,[34] and earned Kelis a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.[36]
Although the Neptunes contributed several tracks to Tasty—the album was released by their label Star Trak Entertainment, a joint venture with Arista Records—Kelis also collaborated with other producers such as Dallas Austin, André 3000, Rockwilder, and Raphael Saadiq.[37][29] She stated in an interview: "I felt like I had a lot to prove with this album. People had started messing with me along the lines of 'Is she REALLY any good without The Neptunes?' — which I knew was ridiculous. And so I was like 'I'll take that challenge'."[33] The album was well-received critically; Entertainment Weekly wrote that Tasty is "Kelis' past—big beats, out-there imagery, and sex appeal—refined...much of the beauty of Tasty is in witnessing Kelis rise to the challenge of working with multiple imaginative maestros."[38][39]
"Milkshake" and Tasty immediately found success in Europe. According to the BPI, Tasty went platinum in the United Kingdom, selling over 300,000 copies, and "Milkshake" went silver, selling over 200,000 units.[40][41] The Dallas Austin-produced "Trick Me", the album's second single, went to the top 10 in many European countries during mid-2004; it did not, however, garner success in the U.S. in the absence of promotion by Jive Records, the label Kelis had been transferred to after Arista Records folded at the time of Tasty's release.[27] Kelis' success grew in Australia, where Tasty went gold and where "Milkshake" and "Trick Me" went platinum. Kelis followed the success of the third Tasty single, the BPI silver-certified "Millionaire" (featuring André 3000), with the Rockwilder-produced track "In Public" (featuring Nas), which reached number 17 on the UK chart.[42][22]
"Not in Love", Kelis's collaboration with Enrique Iglesias from his 2003 album 7, was released as a single the following year, reaching the UK top five.[22] Although the single failed to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, it topped the country's Hot Dance Club Play chart.[43] Also in 2004, Kelis collaborated with Björk on a remix of the latter's track "Oceania" (from Björk's album Medúlla), which appeared as a B-side to the single "Who Is It".[44] Kelis toured as the opening act for fellow Jive artist Britney Spears's The Onyx Hotel Tour, then headlined her own tour of Australia and New Zealand.[45] In 2005, she was featured on the soundtrack to the film Just Like Heaven with a cover version of The Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket".[46]
2006–2008: Kelis Was Here[edit]
Kelis contributed a track titled "80's Joint" to the soundtrack of the 2006 dance film Step Up. She collaborated with Busta Rhymes and will.i.am on the track "I Love My Bitch", the second single from Rhymes's 2006 album The Big Bang. This was the second time Kelis collaborated with Rhymes, the first being his 2001 song "What It Is".
Other ventures[edit]
Culinary[edit]
From 2006 to 2010, Kelis trained part-time as a saucier, eventually graduating from Le Cordon Bleu.[13][114]
In 2013, Kelis debuted her sauce line, Feast, at the Beverly Hills Food & Wine Festival.[115] Kelis has described sauce as "what accessories are to a woman's outfit. Sauce defines where the dish is from and who's making it...I think everything is better smothered, poured, or dipped."[116] The line went on general sale in 2015 under the new name of Bounty & Full.[117] Kelis's first cookbook, My Life on a Plate, was also released in 2015; Kelis describes it as "an exploration of tastes and cultures, and my experience as a chef, musician, mother and wife".[118] Kelis had previously written an unreleased cookbook with Lauren Pesavento in 2006.[119]
In March 2014, Kelis set up a food truck to cook for attendees of the American music festival SXSW.[120] She promoted her 2014 album Food by sharing her recipes for apple farro, jerk ribs, New York vanilla bean cheesecake, and more on the Spotify app Supper.[121] That same year, the Cooking Channel aired a cooking television series starring Kelis, titled Saucy and Sweet.[122] In 2016, Kelis and cooking duo Le Bun opened a pop-up restaurant in London that she adapted as a food truck to tour around UK music festivals.[3] In September 2017, she released a milkshake recipe in collaboration with Baileys.[123] In 2019, Kelis developed an exclusive menu with a local street food vendor for Jam on Rye Festival in London.[124] She also appears in Cooked with Cannabis, a competition cooking series that Netflix launched on April 20, 2020.[125]
Fashion/TV[edit]
In 2006, Kelis designed her own line of fashion accessories, titled Cake.[126] In 2007, she was in talks to host a Project Runway-esque show for VH1 and auditioned for various film and TV roles.[35][53]
In 2017, Kelis joined BBC One's singing contest Pitch Battle as a judge of the competition with Gareth Malone.[127] In 2020, Kelis competed as the Daisy in the British version of The Masked Singer, where she was eliminated in the fifth episode.[128]
Personal life[edit]
Kelis met rapper Nas at an MTV Video Music Awards party in 2002; they dated for one year, became engaged in 2004, and married in January 2005. In April 2009, she filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. She was seven months pregnant at the time.[129] In July 2009, Kelis gave birth to her first son.[130] The couple's divorce was finalized in May 2010.[131] Kelis has described her relationship with Nas as physically and mentally abusive, crediting the anticipated birth of her child as a factor in her decision to end her marriage.[132] Kelis also recalled that the domestic violence incident between Rihanna and Chris Brown influenced her decision to leave Nas.[132] After she saw pictures of Rihanna battered, she felt embarrassed because she also had bruises all over her body, but she was hesitant to speak about it.[133] Nas replied to the accusations on social media, accusing Kelis of attempting to slander him in the time of a custody battle and accusing Kelis of abusing his daughter.[134] In addition to the domestic abuse claims, she alleged that Nas' drinking habit began to damage their relationship, and he had been having adulterous affairs for two years.[135] They are involved in an ongoing custody battle over their son. In April 2018, Kelis claimed that until 2012, she had not seen "a single cent" from Nas in child support and he has not been an active parent. She said "He doesn't participate. He shows up when it's fun, he shows up when there's a good photo-op...I don't think it should be 50/50 just because you had sperm involved."[136]
In March 2007, Kelis was detained by police in Miami Beach, Florida and charged with disorderly conduct. The arrest report said an operation in which officers posed as prostitutes in the South Beach nightclub district was disrupted when Kelis started screaming racial profanities at them. She was sent to Miami-Dade County Jail and was later released on a $1,500 bond.[137] In September 2008, Kelis was acquitted of the charges. A spokesman for Kelis further commented that the singer would file a lawsuit against the Miami Beach Police, claiming unlawful arrest and the violation of her civil rights.[138]
Kelis married photographer Mike Mora in 2014,[139] and gave birth to her second son in November 2015.[140] Since January 2020, Kelis has been living on a remote farm outside Los Angeles that she manages.[141] In September 2020, she gave birth to her and Mora's second child, a daughter.[142] In September 2021, Mora revealed publicly that he had stage IV stomach cancer. In an Instagram post, he stated he had been diagnosed with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma in September 2020 and given eighteen months to live.[143][144] Mora died on March 14, 2022, at age 37.[145][146]
Artistry[edit]
AXS called Kelis a "punky, rebellious" singer-songwriter.[147] The New York Times considered Kelis's vocals "dynamic" and commended her for being "well schooled in the intricacies of heartache".[148] IGN described Kelis as being "strange, weird, and eccentric".[149] The Chicago Tribune stated that Kelis made the most of "a voice that lives in the basement".[150]
Kelis's debut album Kaleidoscope took influence from a variety of 1970s genres,[151] which included urban, rock, jazz, hip hop, R&B, soul, and disco music.[152][153][154][155][156] Kelis cited early Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington as major influences for the album.[148] Several of the album's tracks were designed for clubs, and contained electro beats meant for dancing.[157] Her second studio album Wanderland resembles musically its predecessor while exploring more modern funk sounds, dabbling heavily into genres such as soul and rap.[158][159][160] It carried on the same themes developed in Kaleidoscope, and was criticized for doing so.[161]
Food (2014) contains influences of soul, funk, gospel, and Afrobeat—Kelis said of the album "You know, those records in your life that your parents played and they resonate with who you are? They make you nostalgic. I wanted to find out how to get that feeling."[77]