Kelis Speaker & Booking Information

Kelis is a singer-songwriter and certified chef. Kelis achieved moderate international success with her 1999 debut album, Kaleidoscope. Kaleidoscope was a landmark record of psychedelic sci-fi soul that moved in an orbit all its own. When you take the generosity of spirit and higher love of vintage Stevie Wonder, give it the space age treatment of production superheroes The Neptunes, and add a born superstar barely out of her teens, you've got something very special indeed.

She secured three Top 40 hits ("Caught Out There," "Good Stuff" and "Get Along With You") off of Kaleidoscope, and cleaned up on the awards circuit, scooping the Brit for "Best International Newcomer," the Q award for "Best video" ("Caught Out There") and the NME gong for best "R&B Singer."

Her third album, 2003's Tasty, earned the singer commercial prominence and produced the hit single "Milkshake", her most well-known song. Kelis Was Here (2006), her fourth album, was the subject of further label disputes and she took a hiatus from music after its release, during which she trained at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. She released the album Flesh Tone in 2010 and her sixth, Food, independently in 2014.

Kelis has been recognised at the Brit Awards, Q Awards, NME Awards, and Grammy Awards ceremonies. Her musical output, both as a lead and featured artist, encompasses various genres — she has collaborated with R&B and hip hop acts including Busta Rhymes and Clipse, electronic and dance producers such as Calvin Harris, Timo Maas, and Richard X, pop and rock acts Enrique Iglesias and No Doubt, and indie/alternative musicians including Björk and Dave Sitek. She has sold six million records worldwide and has had particular success in the United Kingdom, with ten of her singles reaching the UK Singles Chart top ten.

Kelis' search for inspiration began in Harlem, New York in 1980. The daughter of Pentecostal Minister Kenneth, and children's clothes designer Iveliss, Kelis Rogers was always as individual as her name. The youngest of three daughters, she began travelling across America with her father (also a jazz saxophonist) to sing at his sermons, while soaking up the classic soul her mother played.

With a defiantly independent streak, it is no surprise Kelis did not fit in at her predominately white Upper East Side private school. At 13, she was already looking elsewhere, becoming a model on the covers of fashion and teen magazines. A year later she enrolled in LaGuardia, the performing arts school immortalised in the movie, "Fame."

Her first proper venture into music was a girl group called BLU (Black Ladies United), which did not last long, but procured the ears of hip-hop producer Goldfinghaz, who gave her a spot on the second album by RZA side project, Gravediggaz. Leaving home at 16, she struck out on her own. It wasn't easy at first, but two years later she met Virginia Beach production duo Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, aka the Neptunes, and subsequently landed a deal with Virgin Records. Her first foray into the music world's center stage on Ol' Dirty Bastard's delirious hit "Got Your Money," a single which turned out to be the anthem of its time, set the stage for her first full length album, Kaleidoscope.

Even in the context of a golden age for cutting edge R&B, Kelis stood out from the crowd thanks to her sheer originality. A modern soul singer who attracts the attention of U2 and Moby, sings the praises of Basement Jaxx and Muse, defines her own image without using stylists, and has fresh and witty opinions to spare, all without throwing tantrums in hotel rooms, is not your usual off-the-peg vixen.