Who is Kelis? Pitch Battle judge profile
The US singer, best known for her hits Milkshake, Trick Me and Caught Out There, is making her debut as a talent contest judge
New shiny-floor TV series Pitch Battle aims to do for singing what Strictly did for dancing – but who’ll be making dreams come true in the judges' chairs?
Meet the choir girl turned BRIT and Grammy Award winner who’ll be putting the acts through their paces ;
Name: Kelis Rogers
Twitter: @iamkelis
Best known for: having a Milkshake that brings all the boys to the yard and winning LOTS of awards for her music.
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Bio: Kelis was born and raised in Harlem, New York. As a child, she sang in church choirs and played violin, piano, and saxophone, so she’ll be right at home on the Pitch Battle panel.
She was still a student at the Fiorella H LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts when she formed R&B trio BLU (Black Ladies United). After gradation she was introduced to The Neptunes (that’s Happy singer Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo to you and I), who supported the young singer as she worked her way towards a recording deal.
Her debut album Kaledidoscope was pretty successful, but after follow-up Wonderland failed to do as well she decided to leave her record label.
It turned out to be a clever move because her next album, Tasty (released in 2003), gained her international success and notoriety with hit singles like Milkshake, Millionaire and Trick Me.
The signer took something of a break following the release of her fourth album, Kelis Was Here, in 2006. She trained at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school and released two more albums, Flesh Tone in 2010 and Food in 2014. Now she's also written a cook book and occasionally pops up on cooking shows on TV.
Kelis is quite the internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter, recognised at the Brit Awards, Q Awards, NME Awards, and Grammy Awards.
And she knows a thing or two about getting the mix of voices just right, as she has collaborated with R&B and hip hop acts including Busta Rhymes and Clipse, electronic and dance producers such as Calvin Harris, Timo Maas, and Richard X, pop and rock acts Enrique Iglesias and No Doubt, and indie and alternative musicians including Björk and Dave Sitek.
Oh and did we mention she’s had TEN singles in the UK Top Ten singles chart? We'll have whatever milkshake she's having, please.
Pitch Battle begins on BBC1 at 7.30pm on Saturday 17th June.
