R&B singer R. Kelly has announced he will be hitting the road on the Single Ladies Tour, starting October 13 in South Carolina at Township Auditorium. The tour has 24 scheduled stops across the United States this fall. This tour begins with a little more than a year break for R. Kelly who was on the road last summer during his Love Letter tour, accompanied by Keyshia Cole and Marsha Ambrosius.
The Single Ladies Tour announcement comes in conjunction with the news that R. Kelly is working on a new album and another “Trapped” series. With the upcoming album R. Kelly explains that he’ll return to the explicit lyrics of his past, according to the Huffington Post. Black Panties does not have a release date schedule yet but it is not expect to drop until sometime next year.
The Single Ladies Tour schedule manages to hit major parts of the United States during the near two month duration. The tour will hit notable cities including: Atlanta, GA (10/18); Chicago, IL (10/25); Los Angeles, CA (11/2); two nights in Detroit, MI (11/17-18); and New York, NY (11/21). The tour finally wraps up on December 7 at the Star Plaza in Merrillville, IN.
The forth coming album and tour are positive news for R. Kelly who came under criticism last month after he pulled out of the “Love Letter Cruise” aboard the Carnival Destiny. The company promoting the cruise, Concert Cruise, LLC, soon went out of business and now have several complaints filed against them to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) after their refusal to refund customers money.
R. Kelly claims he withdrew from the cruise since he was never compensated by the company for his services.
In 1993, R. Kelly released his first solo studio album 12 Play. Ten studio albums later and R. Kelly has gone on to sell 38.5 million albums in the U.S., 15 million singles, and over 54 million albums worldwide.
He is perhaps best known for his 1998 hit single “I Believe I Can Fly.” It went on to win three Grammy Awards that year for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media, for its use in the movie Space Jam.
R. Kelly also found huge success with his ground-breaking ‘hip-hopera’ “Trapped in the Closet.” The first five chapters of the series were released on his 2005 album TP.3 Reloaded. Each chapter had its own accompanied music video. Chapters 6-12 were released on DVD in November 2005 and chapters 13-22 were released on DVD in August 2007. The series of videos have been viewed an average of over 500,000 times on R. Kelly’s YouTube page, and the album reached as high as fifth on the U.S. Billboard charts.
For fans of R. Kelly there will be a lot to look forward to at the end of 2012 and into 2013. By going to the Single Ladies Tour fans will undoubtedly be able to hear songs off of his upcoming album.
Tickets for select dates have already been released to the public, while others are scheduled for a later date.
