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Kelis was born and raised in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, New York. Her first name, pronounced "Kuh-Leese," is a combination of the name of her father - Kenneth, an African-American jazz musician and a Pentecostal minister - and of her mother - Eveliss, a Puerto Rican-Chinese fashion designer, who inspired her to pursue her singing career.
As a child, she sang in church choirs and played violin, piano, and saxophone while attending a private school. Kelis left home at age thirteen, but continued her education and at age 16 she went to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she formed the R&B trio BLU (Black Ladies United). After graduation, she formed a band with The Neptunes and, with their support, landed herself a record deal.
She has since worked with a variety of musicians including Gravediggaz, Busta Rhymes, Foxy Brown, Lil' Kim, OutKast, P. Diddy, Usher, Moby, Richard X, Timo Maas, Björk, No Doubt, Enrique Iglesias, Too $hort, and her husband, Nas. Her most notable duets were popular singles and music videos, even in America, during 1999 and the early 2000s decade. These include the following: "What It Is" with Busta Rhymes, "Candy" with Foxy Brown, and "Got Your Money" with the late Ol' Dirty Bastard with whom she was initially discovered beatboxing in a video of his.
Kaleidoscope (1999) Kelis began recording her debut album in late 1997 and was finished within a year. The album debuted at number one hundred and forty-four on the Billboard 200 and reached the top 50 on the Top Heatseekers selling over 10,736 copies in its first week of release. The album since has sold just under 300,000 copies. Its lead and most notable single, "Caught Out There," peaked at number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and became a small MTV/BET video hit. The entire album really took off in Europe, where all three singles, "Caught Out There," "Good Stuff," and "Get Along With You" were sizable hits. Kelis' colorful style in both clothing and hair received considerable attention.
"Caught Out There" entered the UK Top 75 Singles at number four.NETQUOTEVAR:2 With its success, it was decided another single should be released. A third single, "Good Stuff," was also a modest hit, securing a number nineteen on the UK Top 75 although her third release "Get Along With You" only reached number fifty-one in the UK despite coming over to the UK to promote the track. In addition, according to BPI, a British music charts organization, Kaleidoscope went Gold, selling over 100,000 copies in the UK, where it reached number forty-three on the UK Top 75 Albums. Furthermore, Kelis won the Brit Award for "International Breakthrough Act" in 2001. Kelis' biggest market was in Europe, where a combination of rap, R&B intermixed with rock and roll, and other genres was readily accepted. Australia and Asia also turned out to be easier markets for Kelis. The whole album was produced by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo (The Neptunes).
Wanderland (2001) Her second album, Wanderland, was released two years later exclusively in Europe, Asia and Latin America, after its lead single, "Young, Fresh N' New," failed to catch on in America. The video for the song barely registered on American MTV or VH1, but got heavy play on MTV2 (as well as MuchMusic in Canada). According to Kelis, she and then American record company Virgin did not like the Wanderland album. The record executives at Virgin felt the album material didn't have strong enough singles. Unlike her debut, Wanderland sales were mediocre selling just under 80,000 copies in the United Kingdom and the only single to be released off the album "Young, Fresh N' New" only reached number thirty-two in the UK. Kelis, who had moved to Europe during her successful period there, began touring with U2 on their European tour, and the United States with Moby during his Area:One tour. It was while in the U.S. that she met and fell in love with rapper Nas and the couple were married on January 8, 2005. Tasty (2003)
Kelis finally found mainstream success in the U.S. in 2003, with her number-four R&B, number-three Hot 100 song, "Milkshake"; this helped to propel her third album Tasty to Gold status, selling over 540,000 copies in the U.S in only 2 months. It also earned her a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 for "Best Urban/Alternative Performance" (awarded to OutKast's "Hey Ya!"). The album to date has sold 760,000 copies.
The single and album immediately found success in Europe. According to the BPI, Tasty went Platinum in the United Kingdom in October 2004 selling over 300,000 copies. The hit single "Milkshake" went Silver in the UK selling over 200,000 units. "Milkshake" was one of the ten best-selling singles in UK in 2004. The album's second single, "Trick Me," once again proved successful at radio and video channels in Europe and went to the top 10 in many European countries during mid-2004. However, the song did not enjoy success in the U.S., where its music video was not released. In addition, Kelis' success grew in Australia. The album Tasty went Gold in Australia selling over 35,000 copies. "Milkshake" went Platinum, selling over 70,000 copies. "Trick Me" also went Platinum in Australia selling over 70,000 units. "Trick Me" was important because The Neptunes were, for once, not involved in its production. Instead, Dallas Austin co-wrote and produced this track. Although The Neptunes contributed a number of tracks to the album, Kelis began collaborating with other producers, such as Austin, André 3000, Rockwilder, and Raphael Saadiq producing an altogether more eclectic sound. In New Zealand the album Tasty went Gold selling over 7,000 copies.
"Not In Love," a collaboration with Enrique Iglesias on his 2003 album 7, was released as a single the following year reaching number five in the UK, but was only a minor success in the U.S. dance chart. Kelis followed her success of "Millionaire" with the Rockwilder-produced track, "In Public" featuring Nas. The track was a UK only release, going as far as number seventeen on the charts with no video for the track.
With the success of Tasty, Kelis went on tour as the opening act for Britney Spears' Kelis' fourth studio album, Kelis Was Here (originally due to be called The Puppeteer), was released in August 22, 2006, and debuted and peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200. Its lead single, "Bossy" (featuring Too $hort), is achieving frequent airplay on urban radio and was a moderate hit in the U.S., peaking at number sixteen. The album includes production credits by Scott Storch, Cee-Lo Green, Raphael Saadiq, will.i.am, Max Martin & Dr. Luke, Knobody, Polow da Don, Damon Elliott, Cool and Dre, Sean Garrett, and Bangladesh. Unlike all of Kelis' previous albums, the producers The Neptunes are not featured at all, and Kelis said that was "very important to me," but said it was purely a business decision and has no ill will towards Pharrell or Chad. Kelis also collaborated with Busta Rhymes on the track "I Love My Chick," the second single from his latest album The Big Bang. This will be the second time Kelis has teamed up with Busta, with the first time being on his song "What It Is." Kelis is also featured on the soundtrack for the upcoming dance film Step Up with a song called "80's Joint."
The second single from Kelis Was Here has been confirmed as "Blindfold Me" (featuring Nas). BET's Access Granted aired the video on September 6, 2006. Currently, in addition to working on the upcoming album, Kelis is writing a cookbook and designing her own line of fashion accessories
