R&B star R. Kelly is making headlines after he raised money for his former high school music teacher to save her home.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Lena McLin, a retired Chicago Public Schools and vocal coach, has struggled to pay for her apartment as her building is being converted into condos. But Kelly stepped in, holding an Oct. 14 benefit concert in Chicago to raise money for his 87-year-old mentor.
"Ms. McLin reached down in me and pulled out something greater than me," Kelly told the Sun-Times. "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."
The three-time Grammy Award winner got emotional as he spoke to the Sun-Times about McLin's influence on him, from the time she told him he would be "one of the greatest" to when encouraged him to enter a talent show.
"Nobody could do what she did for me," he said. "Nobody was even interested in doing what she did for me. Nobody. Even to this day, nobody has my interest like she does."
>> Click here to watch the interview
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