fter years of sharing the stage with Beyonce and Michelle Williams, the Houston-raised singer is finally on the cusp of that elusive title: Pop star. Looking at the American charts you wouldn’t know it, but overseas Rowland is queen, managing to stay on the charts for the past eight months.
What caused all this?
Was it the split from Mathew Knowles, the manager and father-like figure that nurtured Destiny’s Child? Or was it something, well, simply deep? “I was complacent and comfortable where I was. Here in America, sometimes my music didn’t quite work, but overseas it’s on top of everybody’s chart.”
Kelly’s first solo effort “Simply Deep” did well enough to go gold riding off the momentum she established sharing vocals with rapper Nelly on the smash hit “Dilemma.” It topped the charts in the UK, and went gold in several countries including Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore and Australia.
Her second album, “ich was released in 2007, had lukewarm sales. Kelly’s music was, as she put it “a weird fusion” and didn’t quite fit into U.S. radio playlists nor fans’ rotations.
But not overseas.
The album’s singles – “Work” and “Ghetto” – charted significantly throughout Europe. Kelly recorded with French singer Nadiya in 2008; she sung with Italian singer Tiziano Ferro in February of this year and cracked the top 10 on the Dutch charts.
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