About this item
The essential account of R. Kelly's actions and their consequences, a reckoning two decades in the making In November 2000, Chicago journalist and music critic Jim DeRogatis received an anonymous fax that alleged R. Kelly had a problem with "young girls." Weeks later, DeRogatis broke the shocking story, publishing allegations that the R&B superstar and local hero had groomed girls, sexually abused them, and paid them off. DeRogatis thought his work would have an impact. Instead, Kelly's career flourished. No one seemed to care: not the music industry, not the culture at large, not the parents of numerous other young girls. But for more than eighteen years, DeRogatis stayed on the story. He was the one who was given the disturbing videotape that led to Kelly's 2008 child pornography trial, the one whose window was shot out, and the one whom women trusted to tell their stories - of a meeting with the superstar at a classroom, a mall, a concert, or a McDonald's that forever warped the course of their lives.Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly is DeRogatis's masterpiece, a work of tenacious journalism and powerful cultural criticism. It tells the story of Kelly's career, DeRogatis's investigations, and the world in which the two crossed paths, and brings the story up to the moment when things finally seem to have changed. Decades in the making, this is an outrageous, darkly riveting account of the life and actions of R. Kelly, and their horrible impact on dozens of girls, by the only person to tell it.
About the Author
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, the year the Beatles arrived in America, Jim DeRogatis began voicing his opinions about music shortly thereafter. He is an associate professor of instruction in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago, and together with Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune, he co-hosts Sound Opinions, the weekly music talk show heard on public radio nationwide, as well as via podcast at soundopinions.org. DeRogatis spent fifteen years as the pop music critic at The Chicago Sun-Times and is the author, co-author, or editor of eleven books. He has played in bands since age thirteen, but he jokes that he is a drummer, not a musician. His current trio Vortis recently released its new album This Machine Kills Fascists on vinyl. He lives in Chicago with his wife Carmél Carrillo, while his daughter Melody pursues her passion for musical theater.
