By Greg Kot - Chicago Tribune
Issue date: 5/8/08 Section: MCT News
CHICAGO _ Sex scandals have ruined or derailed countless many pop-star careers, as Michael Jackson, George Michael, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry would attest.
But R. Kelly's career has remained robust even as his trial on 14 counts of child pornography is scheduled to begin Friday.
The South Side singer, 41, has sold more than 12 million records and videos since the charges first surfaced in June 2002. Last year, he scored three top-10 R&B singles, and his 2007 album, "Double Up," sold nearly a million copies despite an industry-wide economic slump. His last major tour, in 2006, earned revenue of $8.3 million.
He has maintained his best-selling status by remaining prolific; he has produced an album a year since the indictments and has a new single, "Hair Braider," on the pop charts. In addition, he has continued to make music suffused with sexually explicit themes, and his fans don't seem to mind. On the contrary, they continue to buy his records and sell out his concerts.
"His music is just so compelling to his audience that they're not hung up on" the sex charges, said Marv Dyson, former president and general manager of WGCI-FM, the powerhouse Chicago R&B station that broke numerous Kelly hits over the years. "You know how forgiving people are nowadays."
Kelly has a more direct explanation on a song from his last album called "The Champ": "Point fingers, throw stones/Hate me, love me, hug me, curse me/Whatever/Cause your ... opinions don't feed me/I'm clever enough to know/That the industry needs me."
Indeed, after some initial reservations about how the sex charges would be received by the public, radio programmers have continued to play Kelly's music. They say Kelly has continued to release music their listeners want to hear.
"If the song is great and people want to hear it, we're going to play it regardless of what's going on in his personal life," said Erik Bradley, music director of Top 40 station WBBM.
No matter what happens at the trial, said Billboard magazine's R&B editor Gail Mitchell, "R. Kelly's going to be OK just because his writing and producing talent have remained consistent. I don't think he's missed any steps in terms of bottoming out."
But R. Kelly's career has remained robust even as his trial on 14 counts of child pornography is scheduled to begin Friday.
The South Side singer, 41, has sold more than 12 million records and videos since the charges first surfaced in June 2002. Last year, he scored three top-10 R&B singles, and his 2007 album, "Double Up," sold nearly a million copies despite an industry-wide economic slump. His last major tour, in 2006, earned revenue of $8.3 million.
He has maintained his best-selling status by remaining prolific; he has produced an album a year since the indictments and has a new single, "Hair Braider," on the pop charts. In addition, he has continued to make music suffused with sexually explicit themes, and his fans don't seem to mind. On the contrary, they continue to buy his records and sell out his concerts.
"His music is just so compelling to his audience that they're not hung up on" the sex charges, said Marv Dyson, former president and general manager of WGCI-FM, the powerhouse Chicago R&B station that broke numerous Kelly hits over the years. "You know how forgiving people are nowadays."
Kelly has a more direct explanation on a song from his last album called "The Champ": "Point fingers, throw stones/Hate me, love me, hug me, curse me/Whatever/Cause your ... opinions don't feed me/I'm clever enough to know/That the industry needs me."
Indeed, after some initial reservations about how the sex charges would be received by the public, radio programmers have continued to play Kelly's music. They say Kelly has continued to release music their listeners want to hear.
"If the song is great and people want to hear it, we're going to play it regardless of what's going on in his personal life," said Erik Bradley, music director of Top 40 station WBBM.
No matter what happens at the trial, said Billboard magazine's R&B editor Gail Mitchell, "R. Kelly's going to be OK just because his writing and producing talent have remained consistent. I don't think he's missed any steps in terms of bottoming out."
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