"People have a hard time describing where I'm coming from, but when they meet me, it all makes sense," says Kelis (pronounced ka-LEES), whose shocking pink-tipped light brown hair has no doubt helped earn her recent photo sessions for Interview and Detour. "My music is really a reflection of me. And the more people talk to me, they relate to who I am."
The daughter of Kenneth G. Rogers, an ordained minister who was also an estimable jazz saxophonist, Kelis grew up in the church -- she sang in the Boys And Girls Choir Of Harlem -- and under the musical influence of such jazz greats as Nancy Wilson, Betty Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jimmy Heath.
"My whole musical background is like that of a grandma," she says. "Here I was, a 13-year-old girl singing Betty Carter's version of 'My Favorite Things.' I wasn't into urban music at all until I was in high school."
That would be the "Fame"-famed La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts, where Kelis -- an accomplished violinist and saxophonist -- studied acting. "That's when I realized I wasn't 45 and growing up in the '30s, but 16 in the early '90s," she says.
Falling in with the hip-hop crowd, Kelis, who also modeled, worked with Goldfingahz and the Gravediggaz. "But I wasn't going anywhere, because I didn't connect musically with my background. I started out in the girl group B.L.U. -- Black Ladies United -- but that was a disaster. They were older than me, and I hadn't found my style yet. I couldn't sing jazz and be taken seriously."
But Kelis says she connected immediately with the Neptunes' Chad Hugo and Pharell Williams after meeting them through a friend who was a "rap connoisseur." The team's credits include Mase, Noreaga, SWV, BLACKstreet, and Ol' Dirty Bastard.
"They had this futuristic sound that I related to," says Kelis. "We all wanted to go to the next level, though we didn't know what it was."
Together, the three recorded a two-song demo in three days at Hugo's house and took it to Virgin's A&R director, Collin Stanbeck.
"They brought her by, and I went nuts," says Stanbeck. "The songs had a retro feel to a 'now' feel that kids can understand but adults can love. She's a kaleidoscope, blending hip-hop culture with musical references to the '50s."
"I get to be me," says Kelis. "I realize I'm the best selling point because no one else can figure me out. People either hate me or love me. But I dig that because I provoke emotion - and that's great, too."
Sound Files (MP3)
Bossy (f/Too Short) - from the album Kelis Was Here
I Don't Think So - from the album Kelis Was Here
Milkshake - from the album Tasty
Trick Me - from the album Tasty
Millionaire (f/Andre 3000) - from the album Tasty
