Keri Hilson

A leading figure of the 21st-century pop-R&B boom—both behind the boards and in the spotlight—Keri Hilson made the shift from songwriter to performer look easy when she pulled it off in the late 2000s.

Born in Decatur, GA, in 1982, Keri Lynn Hilson started studying music at age 12.

As a teenager, she wrote and sang backup on songs by such R&B luminaries as Usher and Ciara; she later joined the songwriting collective The Clutch, which led to her working with superproducer Timbaland.