Kelis in the ‘Milkshake’ video.
Kelis' hit single “Milkshake” still brings its listeners to the yard, nearly two decades after its release.
Since entering the music scene in the late 1990s and releasing her aforementioned hit-single in 2003, the hitmaker whipped up a musical treat that has forever solidified itself in pop culture history.
In 2015, Kelis published a cookbook,My Life on a Plate: Recipes from Around the World, whichshe describedas “an exploration of tastes and cultures, and my experience as a chef, musician, mother, and wife.” (Ironically, no milkshake recipe was included.)
While the multi-talent has ventured into the food space, she hasn’t exited the music scene completely. In fact, she’s still creating music — and performing, too! Most recently, sheperformed a set at Mighty Hoopla festivalin London attracting many, of whichBill Murraywas among the thousands in the crowd.
Here’s everything to know about Kelis, who’s rocked the music scene since the ’90s.
Her name is a portmanteau of her parents' names
Kelis in 2008.Dan MacMedan/WireImage
Dan MacMedan/WireImage
Kelis is a New York City native, raised alongside her three sisters in Harlem. Her parents heavily influenced her career in music, specifically her father who was a musician in his own right. He placed his focus in the African-American jazz genre.
“I grew up hanging out in jazz clubs, falling asleep there with people stepping over me, because that’s where my parents were, so they just took me," she toldTheGuardianin a 2020 interview. “But you look at parents today and they’re like: ‘Oh my God, it’s nap time, I can’t talk to you!’ And it’s all: ‘We can’t go there because we have kids!’ I’m like, did we die when we had kids?'”
She added, “And then there’s a disconnect: I’m hypersensitive to the stuff my parents fought for because they weren’t sheltering me from the realities."
She attended performing arts school in New York City
Kelis in 2023.Gus Stewart/Redferns/Getty
Gus Stewart/Redferns/Getty
Kelis was involved in music all throughout grade school. When she was a child, she participated in church choirs and played violin, piano and saxophone while attending a private N.Y.C. school in Manhattan.
She continued her musical pursuit at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, also in NYC. She formed an R&B trio known as BLU (Black Ladies United) while there.
She created her debut album with Pharrell Williams
Kyle Gustafson / For The Washington Post via Getty
However, their working relationship took a turn. “I thought it was a beautiful and pure, creative safe space,” she toldThe Guardian. “But it ended up not being that at all.” Publishing royalties and credits between them were at the center of the discourse.
“I was told we were going to split the whole thing 33/33/33, which we didn’t do,” she of her first two albums, which The Neptunes produced. Rather, she told the outlet, she was “blatantly lied to and tricked." As a result, she said she made nothing from sales of her first two albums:Kaleidoscopeand 2001’sWanderland.
In response to their argument that she “signed [the contract],” Kelis said, “I signed what I was told and I was too young and too stupid to double-check it.’” Williams and Hugo of The Neptunes are the sole credited writers and producers on the 2003 track.
She earned a Grammy nomination for ‘Milkshake’
While the release of Kelis' first two albums received attention, like her first single “Caught Out There” offKaleidoscope; however, it wasn’t until her third album that she saw her massive breakthrough and mainstream success.
In 2003, Kelis released her third album,Tasty,which spawned her Grammy-nominated signature hit, “Milkshake.” In August 2021, thesinger reflected on her critically-acclaimed workthat had a defining pop-culture moment nearly two decades later.
“This is going to sound really cocky and really arrogant, but I saw a picture of myself that someone posted [from theTastyera] earlier today, and I was like, ‘You know what, I was freaking killing it,'” she told PEOPLE. “Sometimes you just need to remind yourself, ‘I’ve been this, and I’ve been doing it.’ It’s OK to say that.”
In fact, Kelis often feels as though her work was ahead of its time. “I used to say, back in the day, when I would sit in front of my label heads, and they’d be like, ‘What are you doing?’ and I was like, ‘Well, I’m consistently inconsistent.’ That works now — because I’ve got over 25 years in the game.”
She moved out of Los Angeles to live on a farm
While Kelis is a New York native, she moved to Los Angeles to further pursue her career in music. However, she and her family made the decision to move out of the Californian city to a farm two hours away in Temecula during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I hate L.A. I was only ever there for work,” Kelis toldThe Guardian. “Because it’s not like New York or London, there’s nowhere to go after 10 at night, so suddenly you’re getting up early in the mornings and you’re juicing and you’re hiking and figuring out how much wheatgrass can you actually intake.”
She added, “So I thought, if I’m going to be in California, I should be where I can appreciate how beautiful it really is, not stuck in LA and pretending it’s a city that’s fun.”
She pursued cooking endeavors
Kelis in 2015.Matthew Simmons/Getty
Matthew Simmons/Getty
“Milkshake” aside, Kelis has whipped up a unique career path mixing food and beverages with music. In 2014, she dropped her fifth studio albumFood, featuring songs like “Jerk Ribs” and “Friday Fish Fry.” She’s since written a cookbook, 2015’sMy Life on a Plate, hosted multiple cooking shows and begun selling some of her own crops through herBounty & Full online store.
In 2021, Kelis released the sultry single “Midnight Snacks,” which she’s followed up in 2022 with the Kraft Singles partnership song “Square It” as well as “Feed Them,” released with meal delivery company Daily Harvest.
Kelis —who’s also a farmer— has her forthcoming album in the works, calledDirt. She’s creating the project from a studio on the farm, and listeners will be sure to get that real farm-like vibe. “I’m on the farm, so you’re going to hear farm stuff,” she told PEOPLE. “I’m always comfortable in the imperfections.”
She’s the mother of three children
Kelis is the mother of three children. She has two sons and one daughter.
The singer welcomed her first child,son Knight, in July 2009. She shares him with her ex-husband, rapperNas. In December 2015, she gave birth to her second child,son Shepherd, whom she shared with husbandMike Mora.
In March 2022,Mora died at 37 years oldfollowing a two-year-long health battle after being diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer — two years after the couple welcomeddaughter Galileein September 2020.
All ofKelis’ children moved with herto the farm. “I farm because I want to eat a certain way, and I want my kids to grow up a certain way,” she told PEOPLE of the ethos behind her relocation. “I want to breathe a certain way. I want to walk a certain way, and I don’t want to be told how to do it. It’s Kelis Land. It’s my space.”
source: people.com
