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“This case is not about a celebrity who likes to party a lot,” assistant US attorney Maria Cruz Melendez told the jury on the first day of R Kelly’s trial. “This case is about a predator.”

At many points during the hearing, the allegations against the disgraced R&B singer were difficult for witnesses to speak about. Dozens of women, and men, gave evidence, the full horror of his crimes officially made public following years of rumours that had been silenced.

R Kelly – once one of the biggest music stars in the world, a three-time Grammy winner whose chart-topping hits include I Believe I Can Fly, Bump ‘N’ Grind and Ignition – had denied all the charges, his lawyers calling his accusers “disgruntled groupies” and saying they were lying, arguing that any “relationships” were consenting.

However, the jury believed the survivors. Robert Sylvester Kelly has now been found guilty of all nine charges brought against him – one charge of racketeering and eight counts of violating a law which prohibits transporting people across state lines for prostitution.

Ms Melendez had told the jury in her opening statement that the 54-year-old used his fame to entice his victims and that he “dominated and controlled them physically, sexually and psychologically”. He was a “predator” whose fame brought him “access to girls, boys and young women”, she said.

Here are some of the key allegations from the month-long trial in Brooklyn.

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Warning: This article contains graphic content.

Marriage to Aaliyah

R Kelly’s marriage to the late R&B singer Aaliyah in 1994 had been speculated about for years. Aaliyah was 15, Kelly 27 when they wed in a secret ceremony following the release of her debut album Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number, which he produced.

During the trial, the singer’s former tour manager Demetrius Smith gave evidence about the relationship – telling the court he bribed a government official to get a fake ID card.

He was forced to testify against his will after being given immunity from future charges.

Recalling the events surrounding the marriage, Mr Smith said he went into a welfare office in Chicago in 1994 and asked an employee who was taking ID photos if they “want to make some money”, before handing over $500.

R&B singer and actress Aaliyah pictured in 2001. Pic: AP
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R&B singer and actress Aaliyah pictured in 2001. Pic: AP

The welfare card was one of two fake IDs used to allow the R&B artist to marry Aaliyah – full name Aaliyah Dana Haughton – after he began a sexual relationship with her and believed she was pregnant, the court heard. A marriage licence listed Aaliyah as 18.

Prosecutors said Kelly wanted to use the marriage – later annulled by Aaliyah’s parents – to protect himself from criminal charges relating to having sex with a minor and prevent the singer from testifying against him.

Mr Smith repeatedly told the judge during his evidence that he was uneasy about taking the stand, but did not give a specific reason.

However, after further questioning, he revealed how Kelly came to him during a 1994 tour and told him Aaliyah was “in trouble” and that he needed to get home.

Mr Smith said they rushed back to Chicago after a concert in another city so they could arrange the marriage, which was meant “to protect him and Aaliyah”.

Later in the trial, another witness told the court that she saw Kelly in a “sexual situation” with Aaliyah in around 1993 – when Aaliyah would have been aged 13 or 14.

The witness, a former backing dancer for Kelly, also said that he had sex with her when she was 15.

Aaliyah later died in a plane crash in 2001, aged 22. In January 2016, Kelly was asked about his relationship with the young star in an interview with GQ, but did not comment. “Out of respect for her mother who’s sick and her father who’s passed, I will never have that conversation with anyone,” he said.

R Kelly denies the charges filed against him
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R Kelly was once one of the biggest music stars in the world

‘He slapped me and choked me until I passed out’

Kelly’s trial in New York came after years of suspicions and accusations against him. Many of the allegations were featured in the Lifetime documentary series Surviving R Kelly, which aired early in 2019.

While some of the witnesses were not identified in the media, and were referred to as “Jane Does” in court, Jerhonda Pace, who is now 28, was one of the women who appeared in the programme and has spoken out against the singer publicly.

She was the first accuser to give evidence during the trial, telling jurors that Kelly invited her to his mansion and ordered her to take off her clothes when she was a 16-year-old virgin, and a member of his fan club, in 2010.

“He asked me to continue to tell everyone I was 19 and act like I was 21,” she told the court. When she told Kelly she was a virgin, he said that was “good” and told her he wanted to “train her” sexually, she said.

Ms Pace told the jury he knew her age as she had shown him identification, and ordered her to call him “Daddy”.

She said they saw each other for another six months, but Kelly grew more and more controlling and would become violent when she broke what she called “Rob’s rules”. She recalled one time when “he slapped me and choked me until I passed out”. Afterwards, he spat in her face and forced her to have oral sex, she said.

Ms Pace also told the court that Kelly would often record their sexual encounters and sometimes ordered her to wear pigtails and “dress like a girl scout”.

‘It was almost like the Twilight Zone’

It was not just Kelly’s victims who gave evidence in court, with former employees describing the things they saw while working for the singer, too.

Anthony Navarro, a trained audio engineer who said he worked for the singer for more than two years until 2009, told the court that girls stayed at Kelly’s mansion in Chicago for long periods of time but could not eat or leave without his permission.

He described the inner workings of the property where the singer had a recording studio, saying it was like being in “the Twilight Zone” and that it sometimes made him “uncomfortable”.

Mr Navarro told the court he never witnessed Kelly sexually abusing victims, but said his job included picking up and driving girls to be with the R&B singer, as well as other tasks associated with his career.

“There’s been times where they (girls) wanted to (leave) but couldn’t because they couldn’t get a ride or we couldn’t get a hold of Rob,” he said.

He recalled being instructed not to talk to girls at the house and having to tell people when girls were no longer in rooms they had been escorted to.

“The things you had to do were just a bit uncomfortable,” he said. “The music and production stuff was really good. All the other stuff was kind of strange… It was almost like the Twilight Zone.”

R Kelly listens in as the final closing arguments are made in his trial. Pic: Reuters
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R Kelly is also facing sex abuse charges brought in Illinois and Minnesota – to which he has also pleaded not guilty

Victim who contracted herpes

One witness, known as “Jane Doe #5”, told the court that Kelly gave her herpes on purpose and assaulted her while she was underage.

She also told the court that the singer once beat her with a shoe. On another occasion, he forced her to rub faeces on her face and videotape it, she said.

Ms Doe also said she was coerced into getting an abortion after Kelly said he wasn’t ready to have a child with her.

The pair first came into contact in 2015, when the witness, then 17, was invited to Kelly’s hotel in Orlando, Florida, following a gig during which the then-48-year-old paid “a lot of attention to her”, she told the court.

Ms Doe said she told the singer she was 18 when they met – the age of consent in Florida – and said she wanted to be a singer and hoped to advance her career. However, Kelly told her he needed to be pleased sexually before she could audition, she said.

“I just wanted to sing,” Ms Doe, now 23, testified. “I genuinely wanted his input.”

After the initial abuse, which involved oral sex, Kelly was said to have had sex with the victim on more than one occasion. At one point, the court heard, Ms Doe started experiencing pain during sex, which “got worse to the point where I couldn’t walk”.

She was later diagnosed with herpes.

“This man purposely gave me something he knew he had,” she told the court. “He could have controlled the situation.”

Doe said that when she revealed her real age to Kelly, he slapped her across the face but kept her in his life.

In notes that Doe wrote to herself to follow Kelly’s rules, she had written: “Tell Daddy everything.”

Kelly promised a 17-year-old boy fame in exchange for sex

A male accuser, who testified under the pseudonym Louis, told the court he was just 17 when Kelly promised him fame in exchange for sex.

He said the singer had lured him to his Chicago-area home in 2007 with a false offer to help him with his music career.

Kelly had asked him “what I was willing to do for music”, he told the court, and said he had replied: “I’ll carry your bags… anything you need I’ll be willing to do.”

According to Louis’s testimony, Kelly responded: “That’s not it, that’s not it”, before asking him if he ever fantasised about having sex with men.

He said that Kelly had “crawled down on his knees and proceeded to give me oral sex”, adding: “I wasn’t into it.”

He also said that, on another occasion, Kelly had snapped his fingers to summon a naked girl to perform a sex act on himself and Louis.

The teenage boy continued to see the R&B star because “I really wanted to make it in the music industry”, the court was told.

The witness who didn’t testify due to panic attacks

Kelly threatened to “f*** up” one of his victims before assaulting her in an incident that was recorded in 2008, it emerged in court documents submitted during the trial.

The filing stated that prosecutors wanted the woman from Florida, referred to as a “Jane Doe”, to testify at Kelly’s trial, but decided against it after she “started to have panic attacks and appeared to have an emotional breakdown” as she listened to the tapes.

While the recordings were played in court, there was no audio for the press and public. A video feed showed Kelly not wearing the headphones that would have allowed him to listen to the evidence.

On tape, the singer was said to be heard saying: “If you lie to me, I’m going to f*** you up.” In a second tape, he was allegedly heard threatening her and accusing her of stealing his Rolex watch.

“You better not ever… take from me again or I will be in Florida and something will happen to you,” he said, according to the documents. “You understand what I’m telling you?”

Kelly allegedly told his victims he had cameras and other recording devices “everywhere” in his Chicago studio and other locations.

R. Kelly sits with his lawyers Nicole Blank Becker, Devereaux Cannick and Thomas Farinella during Kelly's sex abuse trial at Brooklyn's Federal District Court in a courtroom sketch in New York,
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The singer had denied all the charges against him

‘I was scared. I was ashamed. I was embarrassed’

One witness was a former radio station intern when she met Kelly in 2003, after contacting his representatives about an interview. She told the court she was locked in a darkened room and believes she was drugged and assaulted by Kelly while she was unconscious.

“I was sexually assaulted,” the woman, now 39, told jurors. “It wasn’t something I invited.”

Testifying without using her real name, she said she was a 21-year-old single mother from Salt Lake City, in Utah, when she approached Kelly’s entourage.

She was invited to fly to Chicago and meet Kelly at his music studio, all paid for by the singer, the court was told. When she arrived, she was greeted by someone who made her sign a non-disclosure agreement, demanded personal information about her family and surprised her by asking if she “needed protection” – specifically, a condom, she said.

“No, I’m not here for that,” was her response.

The woman said she was told to wait alone for Kelly in a windowless room. When she tried to step out, she discovered that the door was locked from the outside and that, after banging on the door with no response, she needed permission from Kelly to go to the bathroom or anywhere else, she said.

“I was scared. I was ashamed. I was embarrassed,” she told the court.

Two days went by before she was finally given something to eat, she told the court. After passing out, she says she awoke to find someone had taken off her clothes and that she saw Kelly pulling up his trousers.

It felt like another few days passed before she was put on a flight home, the court heard.

As she left, an employee warned her not to “f*** with Mr Kelly”, she said.

What now?

For Kelly, who last released a studio album in 2016, the guilty verdict in New York is not the end of his legal troubles.

He is also facing sex abuse charges brought in Illinois and Minnesota – to which he has also pleaded not guilty.

So there could be more allegations to come.

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Black Sabbath, Elton John and Rod Stewart among music giants paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne

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Black Sabbath, Elton John and Rod Stewart among music giants paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne

Black Sabbath have paid tribute to their former frontman Ozzy Osbourne after the megastar died at the age of 76.

Osbourne’s death on Tuesday morning was announced in a statement, which said he died surrounded by his family.

His death came just weeks after he reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates – Tony Iommi, Terence “Geezer” Butler and Bill Ward – and performed a huge farewell concert for fans.

The band paid tribute to him on Instagram by sharing an image of Osbourne on stage at the farewell gig in Birmingham and writing “Ozzy Forever”.

Ozzy Osbourne’s life in pictures

Iommi, the band’s lead guitarist, said he was in disbelief at the news.

“It’s just such heartbreaking news that I can’t really find the words, there won’t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother.”

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Watch: Ozzy’s last concert

Butler, Black Sabbath’s bassist and primary lyricist, thanked Osbourne for “all those years – we had some great fun”.

He said: “Four kids from Aston – who’d have thought, eh? So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston. Love you.”

Ozzy Osbourne salutes the crowd with his wife Sharon during the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Pic: AP
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Osbourne with his wife Sharon during the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Pic: AP

Sir Elton John described Osbourne as his “dear friend” and a “huge trailblazer” who “secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods”.

“He was also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met,” the singer wrote on Instagram.

Ronnie Wood, of The Rolling Stones, wrote: “I am so very sad to hear of the death of Ozzy Osbourne. What a lovely goodbye concert he had at Back To The Beginning in Birmingham.”

Born John Michael Osbourne on 3 December 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, he became known as the godfather of heavy metal.

The self-styled Prince of Darkness pioneered the music genre with Black Sabbath before going on to have huge success in his own right.

He was famous for hits including Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, Crazy Train and Changes, both with the band and as a solo star.

Legendary American heavy metal band Metallica shared an image of them with Osbourne from 1986 along with an emoji of a broken heart.

Posting on Instagram, Sir Rod Stewart said: “Sleep well, my friend. I’ll see you up there – later rather than sooner.”

Queen guitarist Sir Brian May said he was “grateful I was able to have a few quiet words” with Osbourne after his farewell show at Villa Park three weeks ago.

He said the world will miss the singer’s “unique presence and fearless talent”.

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Ozzy Osbourne obituary: Heavy metal, reality TV, and biting bats – the wild life of Birmingham’s Prince Of Darkness

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Ozzy Osbourne obituary: Heavy metal, reality TV, and biting bats – the wild life of Birmingham's Prince Of Darkness

“You’ve no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart,” an emotional Ozzy Osbourne told fans as he performed from a throne on stage at his beloved Villa Park, reunited with Black Sabbath, less than three weeks ago.

It was an exit on his own terms by heavy metal’s biggest character, with a supporting line-up of hard rock luminaries including Slayer, Metallica and Guns’n’Roses, all inspired by his music.

With Black Sabbath, Osbourne was at the forefront of heavy metal. As Ozzy, he was one of the biggest rock stars in the world. Nowhere was this more evident than at the Back To The Beginning in his home city, where 40,000 fans gathered to see the show billed as his “final bow”.

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Ozzy’s final show

“Without Sabbath, there would be no Metallica,” frontman James Hetfield told the crowd in Birmingham.

It was a sentiment echoed by many of the other acts who performed on stage. Announced by his wife Sharon earlier this year, the show was a chance for the performer to reunite with Black Sabbath and say thank you and farewell to fans after years of health problems, including Parkinson’s disease, which had forced him to cancel recent tour shows.

Other celebrities, from Sir Elton John to Dolly Parton, sent video messages of support. Fans knew it would be his last performance, but could not have known his death, at the age of 76, would come so soon.

It was a truly metal goodbye.

Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
BLACK SABBATH, Ozzy Osbourne (back centre), c 1970s
VARIOUS POP
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Black Sabbath in the 1970s. Pic: Everett/Shutterstock

‘I think there’s a wild man in everybody’

John Michael Osbourne was born in Solihull in December 1948 and grew up in the Aston area of the West Midlands city.

As a teenager, he was bullied at school. Drink and drugs later became a way to escape his fears, he said in interviews, and after leaving school at 15, he worked several jobs, including labouring and in an abattoir.

It was hearing The Beatles, he said, that made him want to be a musician.

“I think there’s a wild man in everybody,” he says in a resurfaced interview clip. “Ozzy Osbourne and John Osbourne is two different people. John Osbourne is talking to you now.” His eyes widen a little manically, he grins, the voice cranks up. “But if you want to be Ozzy Osbourne, it’s like… it just takes over you.”

(L-R) Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath pose with their award for Best Metal Performance at the 2014 Grammys
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(L-R) Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath at the Grammys in 2014

In 1967, he was recruited to the band that two years later would become Black Sabbath, inspired by a film of the same title. This was a line-up of four working-class schoolfriends – Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler, alongside Ozzy – who twisted heavy blues into something darker, creating a sound and otherworldly image that felt new, exciting and rebellious.

A self-titled debut album was released in 1970 and made the Top 10 in the UK. The follow-up, Paranoid, released just seven months later, topped the charts after the single of the same name became their big breakthrough. The album also included the unforgettable Iron Man and the anti-war protest song War Pigs – its unmistakeable riff inspiring the Arctic Monkeys’ 2014 single, Arabella.

Black Sabbath went on to release six more albums with Osbourne at the helm before he was fired in 1979 due to his drinking and substance use, something he claimed was no better or worse than other members at the time.

Ozzy Osbourne in 1978. Pic: Andrew Kent/Retna/Mediapunch/Shutterstock
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Osbourne in 1978. Pic: Andrew Kent/Retna/Mediapunch/Shutterstock

In 1980, he returned with his debut solo album, Blizzard Of Oz, and the lead single Crazy Train. As a solo artist, he went on to release 13 studio albums – the last being Patient Number 9, in 2022 – and had hits with songs including Mr Crowley, Diary Of A Madman, No More Tears, Bark At The Moon and Shot In The Dark.

His first UK number one was a re-recording of the Black Sabbath ballad Changes, as a duet with his daughter, Kelly, in 2003, and his collaborations over the years included everyone from Alice Cooper (Hey Stoopid in 1991) and Post Malone (Take What You Want in 2019) to, in a somewhat unusual move, Hollywood star Kim Basinger for a re-recording of the dance hit Shake Your Head by Was (Not Was) in 1992.

With Black Sabbath and as a solo star, he is estimated to have sold 100 million records throughout his career – for context, this is reportedly on a par with Sir Paul McCartney’s solo sales – so the numbers speak for themselves.

Kelly Osbourne, from left, Ozzy Osbourne, and Sharon Osbourne in 2020. Pic: AP
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With daughter Kelly Osbourne and wife Sharon in 2020. Pic: AP

Biting the bat

Osbourne was also a huge personality and played up to his hellraising image – the Prince of Darkness.

The most famous Ozzy story goes like this.

The singer was on stage in Des Moines, Iowa, 1982, when the bat appeared. He assumed it was a toy. So, like any good hellraiser would do, he bit its head off.

Pic: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
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Pic: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

For more than 40 years, he found himself jokily fielding questions about bats. What do they taste like? (Salty). What happened afterwards? (Headline news, painful rabies shots). Do you have any pets? (Yes. They’re all dead).
“I get a lot of weird people at my concerts,” he told David Letterman in 1982, of how the animal came to appear in front of him. “It’s rock ‘n’ roll, y’know”.

He was sometimes irritated by the bat connection. But he also played up to the image, recounting the story in interviews, offering plush bat toys among his merch, and appearing as himself, biting a bat, in the 2000 Adam Sandler comedy Little Nicky, about the son of Satan.

Known for catapulting raw meat at fans during gigs, there were plenty of other tales of darkness and debauchery. Osbourne’s wild persona and on-stage theatrics always went hand-in-hand with the music.

From Prince of Darkness to reality TV

He was famously managed by his wife, Sharon, whom he first met when her dad, Don Arden, was managing Black Sabbath. As well as the music, Sharon and Ozzy together founded the Ozzfest festival tours in 1996 – and in 2002 came his second act.

It’s hard to imagine it now, but before the perfectly coiffed Kardashians it was a scruffy 50-something rocker from Birmingham and his family who ruled the Hollywood reality TV scene. As with his music, he was a pioneer – this time round of a new era of addictive viewing.

The Osbournes followed the lives of Ozzy and Sharon and two of their children, Kelly and Jack (their eldest daughter, Aimee, famously had nothing to do with the show), and the family fallouts and sunny California culture clash proved to be a ratings winner. The MTV series catapulted the metal star to global mainstream celebrity heights.

His marriage to Sharon was tumultuous but the pair always stayed together, and they renewed their wedding vows in 2017. Sharon was the driving force behind Ozzy’s successes, to him eventually getting clean, and behind his farewell show.

Metallica frontman James Hetfield. Pic: Ross Halfin
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Metallica frontman James Hetfield was among those who paid tribute at his final gig earlier in July. Pic: Ross Halfin

Despite weathering the storm of drink and drug use, Osbourne’s air of indestructibility was challenged when a quad bike accident left him with a broken collar bone and ribs, as well as short-term memory loss, in 2003.

The 2020 documentary Biography: The Nine Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne, had summed up with its title the performer’s seeming ability to defy the odds. However, the health problems started to mount up. Scheduled tours were postponed, and in 2023 he told fans holding on to tickets that he had come to the realisation he was “not physically capable” of dealing with life on the road.

But there was one gig he couldn’t miss – a surprise appearance to close the Commonwealth Games in his home city in 2022, just weeks after undergoing surgery.

Now, fans will remember the shows they did get to see, the music that ushered in a new genre – and especially his most recent gig, which was said to have raised around £140m for charities. Just a few days afterwards, his new memoir, Last Rites, was announced. It will be released in October.

Ozzy Osbourne's star as he is inducted into the 'Birmingham Walk of Stars' on Broad Street in central Birmingham.
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Ozzy Osbourne’s star on the ‘Birmingham Walk of Stars’

During his career, Osbourne was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – twice for both, with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. “Countless artists from many genres have credited Ozzy as a major influence, including Metallica, Lita Ford, Rage Against The Machine, and Busta Rhymes,” reads his US citation. “With his longevity, impact, and iconic persona, Ozzy Osbourne is a phenomenon unlike any other.”

He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame – as well as in Birmingham’s Broad Street – an Ivor Novello, and five Grammy wins from 12 nominations.

But other honours, such as the NME’s Godlike Genius award, and Classic Rock’s Living Legend, also give a sense of how much his personality played a part in why he is so beloved by fans and critics alike. In the Nine Lives documentary, daughter Kelly describes him as “the most irresistible mad man you will ever meet in your life”.

Osbourne’s was an unlikely journey from Birmingham to LA. He was a working-class hero of heavy metal, a reality TV favourite – forever the Prince of Darkness.

“People say to me, if you could do it all again, knowing what you know now, would you change anything?” he once said. “I’m like, f*** no… If I’d done normal, sensible things, I wouldn’t be Ozzy.”

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Christina Aguilera on bringing Burlesque to the stage and her rise to fame

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Christina Aguilera on bringing Burlesque to the stage and her rise to fame

Christina Aguilera has told Sky News it is “magical” to see her hit film Burlesque being brought to London’s West End – and also opened up about her rise to fame in the late 1990s.

The US star topped the US and UK charts with Genie In A Bottle in 1999, before finding an even bigger audience with her acclaimed album Stripped and hits including Dirrty, Beautiful and Fighter in the early 2000s.

Christina Aguilera is a producer for the stage adaptation of Burlesque. Pic: Hayden Coens @daydreamsmedia
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Christina Aguilera is a producer for the stage adaptation of Burlesque. Pic: Hayden Coens @daydreamsmedia

In 2010, she starred in Burlesque alongside Cher, Julianne Hough and Stanley Tucci, and now, 15 years later, is a producer for the stage version of the show alongside the film’s original director and writer, Steven Antin.

Speaking ahead of the show’s gala night, Aguilera told Sky News presenter Leah Boleto she has enjoyed taking a backseat and seeing the fresh interpretation of her character – a small-town girl turned into a star.

Christina Aguilera is a producer for the stage adaptation of Burlesque The Musical, on at London's Savoy Theatre. Pic: Pamela Raith
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Burlesque The Musical. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography

“It’s just so beautiful to see the talent that’s on this stage and to absorb it and appreciate the fresh takes on things,” she said. “I love actually taking a step back and a backseat… it’s beautiful to see the reinvention.

“When you’re in it, you focus on the choreography, all these different elements, that being able to take a backseat and being more of a visionary of the bigger picture, it’s really a special thing.”

Aguilera said she had been “blown away” by Jess Folley, who plays her character Ali in the show, and has fully embraced the “powerhouse vocals” as well as the vulnerability needed for the role.

“She just is doing such a magnificent, magnificent job and likewise inspires me as well,” she said.

Jess Folley stars in Burlesque The Musical. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography
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Jess Folley stars as Ali, the role originally played by Aguilera, in Burlesque The Musical. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography

Aguilera said she would love to see her film co-star Cher popping by to see the show in London.

“She’s always welcome to grace us with her incredible, iconic presence. And I’m just so grateful that I had the time to be with her. I mean, looking back, it’s just – did that even happen?”

Aguilera arrived on the scene at the same time as Britney Spears, at a time when young female pop stars were celebrated, sexualised and scrutinised.

After the success of her debut album, she took a different direction with Stripped – embracing her sexuality and famously taking on a less girlish image with chaps, a nose stud and black streaks in her hair for the Dirrty video, and opening up about her life and emotions through songs such as Fighter and Beautiful.

Christina Aguilera at the MTV Video Awards in New York in 2002. Pic: Star Max via AP Images
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Aguilera at the MTV Video Awards in New York in 2002. Pic: Star Max via AP Images

She also took on the patriarchy in Can’t Hold Us Down, a duet with Lil’ Kim, and performed on the hit cover of Lady Marmalade alongside Lil’ Kim, Maya and Pink for Moulin Rouge!

“I always want to stay true to authenticity,” she said. “And for me, with that first album it was wonderful to get my foot in the door…

“It’s important to me that I stepped out on my own and reflected all sides of me as a woman, embracing my sexuality and sensuality, and my body… Dirrty, I just loved those chaps and everything about that was just so fun and raw.”

Read more:
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So would she do it all again, then? Or would she prefer to be an artist starting out now?

“The ’90s, it was a pretty special time in music. And it was a time when you could still like go to Virgin records or like wherever and look at the CDs, look at the packaging. And, you know, sometimes the authenticity is missed.”

However, the good thing about social media now is that it has given stars the means to tell their own stories, she adds. “You have an opportunity now to really present yourself in ways that it’s not just about the music, to become more the narrator in real time… this is what it is like, be your own voice rather than reading about yourself in an article.”

But still, she wouldn’t swap. “It has to stay where it was.”

Burlesque The Musical is showing at The Savoy theatre in London now

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