Biographic - Sunday January 8, 2012 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Kelendria Trene Rowland was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on February 11, 1981. When she was 8 years old, she relocated to Houston, Texas with her mother, and soon teamed up with friends in her first group, the sextet Girl's Time. After appearing on the TV talent show "Star Search" the group was trimmed down to a quartet of Kelly, Beyonce Knowels, Latavia Roberson and Letoya Luckett, and Beyonce's Dad, Matthew, quit his job to take over as manager after surviving one record deal that fizzled out the girls signed to Columbia as Destiny's Child in 1997. By the end of the decade, such hits as "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name" had taken them to the top of the charts worldwide. The departure of Latavia and Letoya saw the introduction of Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin- although, within weeks, Farrah was also out, leaving the other girls to soldier on as a trio. By the time Destiny's Child had become the best-selling female group of all time, the girls had also established solo careers. Kelly ventured into acting, with appearances on such TV shows as "The Hughleys" and movie roles that included 2003's "Freddy Vs. Jason" and 2004's "The Seat Filler." her debut album, "Simply Deep" sold 2.5 million copies, and she won a grammy for her chart-topping collaboration with Nelly on the single "Dilemma." But following lackluster sales of her 2007 album "Ms. Kelly" she parted ways with her record label and manager Matthew Knowles. She returned to hthe charts with the album "Here I Am" and collaborations with a number of artists, including european megastar Did Guetta and rap phenomenon Lil Wayne, with whom she teamed up on the platinum smash "Motivation." Most recently, Kelly-who has sold more than 80 million records to date- has been starring on the panel of the U.K. version of the hit Simon Cowell tv show, "The X Factor."

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