Her father, Kenneth, was a jazz musician and a Pentecostal minister; her mother, Eveliss, was a fashion designer. "Kelis" is a combination of her African American father's and Chinese/Puerto Rican mother's names. Kelis' name is pronounced 'Kuh-Leese'. 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 Kelis 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 and Enrique Iglesias. Her most notable duets were popular singles and music videos, even in America, during 1999 and the early 2000s decade. These include the following: "Got Your Money" with the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, "What It Is" with Busta Rhymes, and "Candy" with Foxy Brown. Kaleidoscope Kaleidoscope (1999) Her debut album, Kaleidoscope, was, overall, not an American success selling 290,000 copies; though its debut single, "Caught Out There", was a urban radio success peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot R&B and becoming a MTV/BET video hit in America. 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" managed to get Kelis a #52 chart entry in the UK on imports and it was therefore decided to release a single which peaked at #4. "Good Stuff" was also a modest hit securing a number #19 position in the UK charts. In addition, according to BPI a British music charts organization Kaleidoscope went gold selling over 100,000 copies in the UK and Kelis won the Brit Award for Best International Newcomer. Kaleidoscope's success was largely outside the United States, because Kelis' style of music was not limited to the traditional urban market. American radio was reluctant to accept Kelis since her music didn't feat neatly into any particular genre. Kelis' biggest market became Europe, where a combination of rap, R&B intermixed with rock and roll and other genres was more readily accepted. Also, Australia and Asia turned out to be easier markets for Kelis. Wanderland The album, Wanderland, was released two years later exclusively in Europe and Asia, after its lead single, "Young Fresh 'N' New", failed to catch on in America; the video for "Young Fresh 'N New" barely registered on American MTV or VH1, but got pretty heavy play on MTV2. According to Kelis her American record company Virgin at the time did not like the Wanderland album. The record executives at Virgin felt the album material didn't have a strong enough singles. Kelis, who had moved to Europe during her successful period there, starting the touring with U2 on their European tour and the United States with Moby during his Area One Tour. In America she met and fell in love with rapper Nas and the couple were married on January 8, 2005. Tasty Kelis finally found mainstream success in America in 2003, with her #1 urban, #3 Hot 100 song, "Milkshake"; this helped to propel her album Tasty to the top of the charts and reach gold status selling over 540,000 copies in the U.S in only 2 months. The single and album immediately found success in Europe. According to the BPI a British music charts organization Kelis third album Tasty went platinum in the United Kingdom in October 2004 selling over 300,000 copies. The hit single Milkshake went silver in the the UK selling over 200,000 units. Milkshake was one of the top 10 best selling singles in UK in the year 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 America, 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 in Australia selling over 70,000 copies. The second single "Trick Me" was important because the Neptunes were, for once, not involved in its' production. Instead, Dallas Austin co-wrote and produced this track. Indeed, although the Neptunes contributed a number of tracks to the album, Kelis began collaborating with other producers such as Austin, Andre 3000, Rockwilder and Raphael Saadiq producing an altogether more eclectic sound. Trick Me also went platinum in Australia selling over 70,000 units. In New Zealand the album Tasty went Gold selling over 7000 copies. "Not In Love", a Kelis & Enrique Iglesias' duet from Iglesias' album 7, was also released as a single in 2004 but failed to catch on in America outside of the club charts. Kelis followed her success of "Millionaire" with the Rockwilder produced track, "In Public" featuring husband, Nas. The track was a UK only release, taking it to #17 with only airplay spins and no video for the track. With the success of Tasty, Kelis went on tour as the opening act for Britney Spears' Onyx Hotel Tour in 2004. Kelis Was Here Kelis' newest release, "Bossy" (featuring Too $hort), is frequently played on urban radio and is the lead single from the upcoming album Kelis Was Here (previously titled The Puppeteer). For this album, she has enlisted producers such as Raphael Saadiq, Scott Storch, Damon Elliott, Max Martin, Swizz Beatz and more. The second single to be lifted from the album is currently confirmed as being either "Puppeteer" or "Insyde Out" Kelis' 4th studio album Kelis Was Here is slated to be released on June 6th, 2006. Production credits include Scott Storch, Raphael Saadiq, will.i.am, Dallas Austin, Swizz Beatz, Bangladesh, and Timbaland. The first single "Bossy" featuring Too Short is to be added to Pop and Rhythmic charts February 28th, 2006. Currently, In addition to working on the upcoming album, Kelis is writing a cookbook and designing her own line of fashion accessories.

Albums Year Title Chart Positions Comments UK Albums Chart US Albums Chart 1999 Kaleidoscope #46 #144 Certified Gold in the UK 2001 Wanderland - - Released in Europe, Asia & Latin America only. 2003 Tasty #11 #27 Certified Gold in the USA Platinum in the UK Gold in Australia Gold in New Zealand 2006 Kelis Was Here TBC TBC The album was originally titled The Puppeteer but Kelis has recently changed the title to Kelis Was Here, for a reason yet to be disclosed. Singles & Music Videos Solo Singles Year Title Chart Positions Album UK Singles Chart US Hot 100 1999 2000 "Caught Out There" #4 #52 #54 Kaleidoscope 1999 2000 "Good Stuff" (featuring Terrar) #19 - Kaleidoscope 1999 "Get Along With You" #51 - Kaleidoscope 2001 "Young, Fresh N' New" #32 - Wanderland 2003 2004 "Milkshake" #2 #3 Tasty 2004 "Trick Me" #2 - Tasty 2004 "Millionaire" (featuring Andre 3000 of OutKast) #3 - Tasty 2005 "In Public" (featuring Nas) #17 - Tasty 2006 "Bossy" (featuring Too $hort) TBC TBC Kelis Was Here Featured Roles Year Title Chart Positions Album 1999 2000 "Got Your Money" (Ol' Dirty Bastard featuring Kelis) #11 UK Nigga Please 2000 "Honey" (Moby featuring Kelis) #17 UK Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad / Honey (Double 'A' Side) 2000 "Supa Lova" (Guru's Jazzmatazz featuring Kelis) - Streetsoul 2000 "How Many Licks" (Lil' Kim featuring N.E.R.D. & Kelis) - How Many Licks 2001 "Cross The Border" (Philly's Most Wanted featuring Kelis) - Get Down Or Lay Down 2001 "What It Is" (Busta Rhymes featuring Kelis) - Genesis 2001 "Candy" (Foxy Brown featuring Kelis) - Broken Silence 2002 "When The Last Time" (Clipse featuring Kelis) - Lord Willin' 2002 "Help Me" (Timo Maas featuring Kelis) #65 UK Loud 2002 "Take You Home" (Angie Martinez featuring Kelis) #85 US Animal House 2003 "How You Want That" (Loon featuring Kelis) #88 US Loon 2003 "Let's Get Ill" (P. Diddy featuring Kelis) #25 UK - 2003 "Make This Run" (Royce Da 5'9" featuring Pharrell Williams & Kelis) - Build & Destroy: The Lost Sessions Part 1 2003 "Finest Dreams" (Richard X featuring Kelis) #8 UK Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1 2004 "Not In Love" (Enrique Iglesias featuring Kelis) #5 UK 7 2004 "Oceania" (Björk featuring Kelis) - Oceania Other Songs & Collaborations Notes ^ Kelis sings on all of the above singles and appears in all music videos for those that have them, other than "Oceania" and "Millionaire". She also makes cameo appearances in the following Neptunes-related music videos, despite not actually singing on the track: "The Funeral" (Clipse) (1999) "Lap Dance" (N.E.R.D. featuring Lee Harvey & Vita) (2001) ^ Two different videos were filmed for "Milkshake". The first was never released. Once the song started to catch on, a sexier video for the song was filmed instead; this is the one that was finally released, but the first one remains viewable on Kelis' website. ^ No music video exists for song/version of song. ^ Kelis only features on the album version of the song. Melanie Blatt does her parts on European single release and she also appeared on the music video.