Has he no shame? Nope

CHICAGO -- Sex scandals have derailed countless pop-star careers, but R. Kelly's has remained robust, even with his long-delayed trial on 14 counts of child pornography looming.

Jury selection began Friday.

The singer, 41, has sold more than 12 million records and videos since the charges first surfaced in June 2002. Last year he scored three top-10 R&B singles, and his 2007 album, "Double Up," sold nearly a million copies despite an industry-wide economic slump. His last major tour, in 2006, earned revenue of $8.3 million.

Kelly has maintained his bestselling status by remaining prolific; he has produced an album a year since the indictments and has a new single, "Hair Braider," on the pop charts. In addition, he has continued to make music suffused with sexually explicit themes, and his fans don't seem to mind. On the contrary, they continue to buy his records -- and his concerts sell out.

"His music is just so compelling to his audience that they're not hung up on" the sex charges, said Marv Dyson, former president and general manager of WGCI-FM, the powerhouse Chicago R&B station that broke numerous Kelly hits over the years. "You know how forgiving people are nowadays."

Indeed, after some initial reservations about how the sex charges would be received by the public, radio programmers have continued to play Kelly's music. They say Kelly has continued to release music their listeners want to hear.

"If the song is great and people want to hear it, we're going to play it regardless of what's going on in his personal life," said Erik Bradley, music director of Chicago top 40 station WBBM-FM (96.3).

No matter what happens at the trial, said Billboard magazine's R&B editor Gail Mitchell, "R. Kelly's going to be OK just because his writing and producing talent have remained consistent. I don't think he's missed any steps in terms of bottoming out."

Alan Light, former editor of Vibe and Spin magazines, said Kelly's work ethic has served to insulate him from a debilitating career slide.

"There was no retreat," Light said. "There was no hiding from anything. He just kept his head down and kept doing his work. I can't really think of anybody in these kinds of scandals [who has acted that way]. Their first impulse is to hide."

Robert Kelly grew up on the South Side of Chicago. While in his teens, he brought a portable keyboard to elevated train stops and sang for tips.