Kelis

Kelis Bio

Kelis Rogers (August 21, 1979), popularly known as Kelis, is an American R&B singer, songwriter and chef. She is best known for her hit, ‘Milkshake’. Starting a the young age of 14, Kelis attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York. Kelis learned how to play the saxophone at Fiorello and sung at the Girls Choir in Harlem. Working as a bartender and singing with R&B trio BLU, Kelis was introduced to Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo from The Neptunes. They created a close friendship and vetted for her talent, landing a record deal with Virgin Records. She released her first album as a teeneger in 1999 titled ‘Kaleidescope’, containing her single, ‘Caught Out There’ which became top 10 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in the US. The album became popular in Europe with her single ‘Caught Out There’ reaching number 4 on the UK single’s chart and was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry. In 2001, Kelis won the International Breakthrough Act at the BRIT Awards and NME Award for Best R&B/Soul Act. In the same year, she toured with U2 and Moby and released her second album ‘Wanderland’. In 2003, she released her third album, ‘Tasty’, which became her most popular album. Her single from the album, ‘Milkshake’ became a Hot Dance Play number one, top 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, became certified gold, won a Grammy nomination in 2004 for Best Urban/Alternative Performance and the album went platinum in the UK. Followed by her fourth album, ‘Kelis Was Here’ was released in 2006, also Grammy nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album. By this time, Kelis has worked with Enrique Iglesias, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Bjork among many others. She released her fifth album in 2009 titled ‘Flesh Tone’ followed by her 2014 album, ‘Food’. Between the time of her 5th and 6th album, Kelis trained at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, released a sauce line, a cooking series titled ‘Saucy and Sweet’ and has written her own cookbook. The multi-talented artist has recently done a tour for her 20th anniversary celebrating ‘Kaleidoscope’ in 2019. Her single, ‘Milkshake’, has 140 million plays on Spotify.