*R. Kelly is doing more than thanking his high school music teacher for putting him on a life-changing path to music.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the Grammy winning vocalist helped save her Chicago home.
The move was a welcome one for Lena McLin, who had been struggling to keep her apartment for the past 36 years. The pension the 87-year-old receives doesn’t cover the condo conversion her apartment building is currently going through.
Upon hearing news of McLin’s situation, Kelly snapped into action by setting up a GoFundMe campaign in her honor. As a result, McLin was able to buy her condo, the Sun-Times reports.
Kelly’s good deed served as a noble way of paying McLin back for all she’s done for him while she was his music teacher and mentor at Kenwood Academy. In Kelly’s eyes, he owes a lot of his success to McLin.
“On the first day I met her, Ms. McLin told me, ‘You’re going to be one of the greatest singers, songwriters and performers of all time. She taught me opera, classical music, jazz, gospel. She said, ‘You are music. You’re not in any one category. Anything you attempt, you’ll be able to tap into the spirit of it, and that’s the gift you have.’ She made me,” he told The Sun-Times.
Reminiscing over McLin’s influence, Kelly remembered being little hesitant at first before putting his dreams of career in basketball aside and agreeing to enter the music talent show after receiving encouragement from McLin.
Once he hit the stage for the show, it was on for Kelly, who admitted that his experience was similar to Peter Parker being “bit by the spider, and I’ve been spraying webs ever since…from that day, life as I knew it was never the same.”
And the rest they say is history. All thanks to the influence and support received from someone who saw the best in Kellz before the rest of us.
To see Kelly speak on McLin and her impact on him, check out the video below:
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