Kelendria Trene Rowland, also known as Kelly Rowland, was born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Houston, Texas. She began her music career with the world’s second best-selling girl group of all time, Destiny’s Child, (following the Spice Girls), and her solo career has maintained her status as a legendary rhythm and blues singer/songwriter. Kelly’s singing style is most comfortable in the midrange, capable of making inflections echoing the soul-divas of the R&B golden age, inspired by their gospel roots, including Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and Kelly’s idol Whitney Houston.

This artist’s signature songs include “Motivation” which features benchmark rapper Lil Wayne, “Kisses Down Low”, a sexy summer hit, and she achieved cross-over success in Eurodance when she paired with David Guetta for “When Love Takes Over”. On her most applauded tracks, Rowland shares her talents with contemporaries: old friends Beyoncé, Michelle Williams, as well as new(er) friends Fantasia and Missy Elliott.

Kelly has received a plethora of nods from the academy and others in the industry: “five Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, 15 Soul Train Awards, 4 American Music Awards, 2 MTV Video Music Awards, 1 BRIT Award, 1 BET Award, 1 NAACP Image Award, a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame” and counting. 2014 was topsy-turvy for Kelly: she welcomed a bouncy baby boy into the world, but lost her mother one month later.

Most recently Kelly is developing her small screen resume on the hit television show Empire’s second season, appearing as the mentally disturbed mother of the King Lear character, Lucious Lyon. The feature films Freddy vs. Jason and the Seat Filler also included Kelly’s acting credits.