R&B legend R. Kelly looks for therapy in his music as the upcoming Lifetime documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, gets closer to its air date.
The controversial King of R&B releases “Born To My Music,” a Chicago-stepping song that sees him detailing the impact of his music on people all over the world.
“Here’s to all the 90’s babies, single mothers and Daddy’s…. wherever rich or wherever poor / this is who this song is for,” Kellz proclaims on the feel-good gem.
“Happy New Year to my Day One Fans! I’ve seen y’all comments asking about new music…I got you! Album coming soon; Trust!” Kelly wrote as he shared the record.
The first episode of ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ will air on Thursday, Jan. 3, and includes an emotional interview with former backup singer Jovante Cunningham, who met R. Kelly at age 14. She claims in the clip that she was a direct witness to the 52-year-old star’s sexual encounters with underaged girls in the ’90s, including his one-time protégée Aaliyah Haughton.
“She truly was a beautiful young lady. We used to sneak Aaliyah out of the hotel room and take her all over the place,” Cunningham recalls. Aaliyah would go on to make it big with her debut R. Kelly-penned single “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number.” “Those were the good old days,” says the former backup singer, “but those are the things that also make you cry.”
During her interview, Cunningham also claims R. Kelly, then 27, and Aaliyah, then age 15, had a sexual relationship.
“We were out on the road with Aaliyah,” she says. “On a tour bus, there really aren’t many confined spaces. When you get on the bus there are bunks and so these bunks have little curtains you can pull at night if you don’t want anybody to see you sleeping.”
“So it just so happened we were all laying in our bunks and the curtains are open, everybody’s communicating, laughing,” Cunningham continues. “When the [room] door flew open on the bus. Robert was having sex with Aaliyah.”
Asked what she saw, Cunningham responds: “Things that an adult should not be doing with a child.” She adds, “I can’t stress to you how people are still suffering behind things that went on 20 years ago.”
The 6-part docu-series, Surviving R. Kelly, is built upon wide-ranging interviews with many of R. Kelly’s former friends, family members and colleagues, but most notably, women who claim that for decades the hit-making singer and producer used his power and influence to sexually and physically abuse women and young girls.