Question 1

Did R. Kelly write his own songs?

Accepted Answer

Almost all of them, and most of them by himself. He is credited on 229 of the 230 tracks across his fifteen solo albums, and 174 of those carry his name and no other writer. Four albums have no outside writer at all: 12 Play, the self-titled 1995 record, TP-2.com and Chocolate Factory.

Question 2

Who wrote "I Believe I Can Fly"?

Accepted Answer

Kelly wrote and produced it alone. It reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and won him three Grammy Awards.

Question 3

How many albums did R. Kelly release?

Accepted Answer

Fifteen solo studio albums between 1992 and 2016. Two more, The Best of Both Worlds and Unfinished Business, are credited jointly with Jay-Z and sit outside this catalogue.

Question 4

How many records did he sell?

Accepted Answer

Over 75 million worldwide. R. is his biggest at 8x platinum in the US, followed by 12 Play at 6x platinum and the self-titled album at 5x platinum.

Question 5

Did he write for other artists?

Accepted Answer

Heavily. His songwriting and production credits include work for Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Justin Bieber, Janet Jackson, Chris Brown and Aaliyah.

Question 6

Which album is entirely his own writing?

Accepted Answer

Four of them. 12 Play, R. Kelly, TP-2.com and Chocolate Factory each carry his name on every track with nobody else credited.

Question 7

When did he stop writing alone?

Accepted Answer

Gradually, from Untitled in 2009 onward. That album has two sole credits out of fifteen tracks, Black Panties has one out of thirteen, and the guest rappers on those records bring their own writers.

Question 8

What is he called?

Accepted Answer

Pied Piper, which the article lists among his other names. Billboard named him the No. 1 R&B artist of the last 25 years in 2011.

Question 9

Who produced his records?

Accepted Answer

He did, on nearly all of them. Six albums list him as sole producer, and the others add specialists like Trackmasters, Scott Storch, Polow da Don and Dr. Luke on individual tracks.

Question 10

Why does the catalogue stop in 2016?

Accepted Answer

12 Nights of Christmas was his last studio album. His recording career is listed as running from 1987 to 2019.