R&B singer Kelly Rowland will be embarking on a North American concert tour in support of her recently released ‘Ms. Kelly’ album. The two month trek will begin on October 28th in Seattle, Washington and run through till December 1st. R&B crooner Mario will be serving as the opening act on the majority of the dates. Check out the full tour stop details below:

Sun 10/28 Seattle, WA Showbox
Tues 10/30 Sacramento, CA Empire Events Center
Wed 10/31 San Francisco, CA Mezzanine
Thu 11/1 Los Angeles, CA House of Blues
Sat 11/3 Reno, NV Silver Legacy Casino (Kelly only)
Thu 11/8 Phoenix, AZ Celebrity Theatre
Sat 11/10 Albuquerque, NM Route 66
Sun 11/11 El Paso, Texas Blu
Thu 11/15 Dallas, TX Palladium Ballroom
Sat 11/17 New Orleans, LA House of Blues
Wed 11/21 Verona, NY Turningstone
Fri 11/23 Atlantic City, NJ House of Blues
Sun 11/25 Detroit, MI Plan B
Thu 11/29 Las Vegas, NV Orleans Casino (Kelly only)
Fri 11/30 Las Vegas, NV Orleans Casino (Kelly only)
Sat 12/1 Las Vegas, NV Orleans Casino (Kelly only)

With Tyler Perry’s ‘Why Did I Get Married’ set to hit theatres on October 12th, Perry along with co-stars Jill Scott and Janet Jackson were guests on the Oprah show yesterday (October 3rd). Check out the videos from thier appearance below:

As the release date for Jennifer Lopez’s new album ‘Brave’ draws nearer, the singer/actress is making the promotional rounds in support of the CD. This time she features on cover of the October/November issue of GIANT magazine. The rumored to be pregnant Lopez is currently on a world tour with her husband Marc Anthony.

Despite selling close to 300,000 copies of her sophomore album ‘Just Like You’ this week (debuting at #2), R&B singer Keyshia Cole was not in high spirits during a recent radio interview. While being questioned on the Big Phat Morning Show to promote the CD, Cole came across snappy, rude and very unprofessional. Thankfully, the radio host called her out and let her know that her attitude was unnecessary considering that they were showing her love and support.

Though the situation was ironed out before the end of the interview, Keyshia really needs to fix up with her attitude. It’s not the first time her unprofessional behaviour has been brought to light. With her increased success, you’d think she’d be humble, but obviously that is not the case. She really needs to remind herself of the industry she is in, because an attitude like that won’t go far.

In related news, Artist/producer, The Dream has told Billboard that he will never work with the ‘Wall to Wall’ singer again. Dream, the writer of ‘Umbrella’ and Nivea’s husband said Brown showed a bad attitude towards him, stemming from the handling of Dream’s track ‘Bed’ – which later saw success when recorded by J. Holiday:

“The track was considered for Chris Brown — he thought it was his — but it was my record and I decided to give it up to J. Holiday,” The-Dream explained to Billboard.com. “Chris said the record won’t be No. 1 unless he’s on it. I bet someone $500,000 that it would go to No. 1 and I collected my money just last week.”
{Source}

It is being reported that Ashanti’s long-awaited return to the charts has been delayed – by a week. The R&B star’s forthcoming album ‘The Declaration’ was originally slated to hit stores on December 4th, however has now been pushed to December 11th. Many are attributing the date-change to the fact that Mariah Carey’s eagerly anticipated album is also dropping on December 4th.

In other Ashanti news, the video for her new single ‘Hey Baby (After The Club) will be shot this weekend in Los Angeles. Famed director Hype Williams is set to direct the vid.

Whatever the true reason for the delay, it makes alot of sense from a business stand-point. Though on different labels, both Ashanti (Motown) and Mariah (Def Jam) come under the Universal Music umbrella, hence going head-to-head wouldn’t be smart. Universal will, no doubt, be looking to maximise the success of both projects. Anyway, ‘Hey Baby’ has really grown on me and I’m thinking Ashanti may be onto a hit with this one. I’m definitely anticipating the vid.

If you didn’t think Ray J could sink any lower, he can and is. The ‘singer’ is prepping the release of a Superhead-type book, detailing his sexual encounters. Check out the story below via Black Voices:

The BV Newswire has exclusively learned that Ray-J is in the final stages of completing his memoir, tentatively titled ‘Sex Machine.’

The book, due out next spring via Karen Hunter Publishing/Pocket Books, will detail the hip-hop soul crooner’s rise to fame (as a chart-topping recording artist) and infamy (as the co-star of a no-holds-barred, hard-core adult video with alleged Hollywood socialite Kim Kardashian).

Tales of having sex with more than 1,100 women will definitely raise eyebrows for the 26-year-old heart-throb who has been romantically linked to Whitney Houston, Lil’ Kim and fellow author Karrine Steffans (a.k.a. Superhead).

Former pop superstar Brandy’s little brother will continue to prove he isn’t little anymore with his foray into the literary world.

Family affairs – including his sister’s fatal car crash – will also be documented, along with a full exploration of his sexual prowess dating all the way back to his first experience at age 10.

Ray J is really beyond a joke now. A mess.

After a lengthy silence and much speculation, Solange has finally spoken out on her marriage, amongst other things, in an interview with Essence magazine. Check out extracts from the interview below:

ESSENCE.com: As you know there’s a lot of mystery surrounding your relationship with your husband, Daniel Smith, so let’s just go ahead and get that out of the way. Are you still married?

Solange Knowles: Well, I am no longer married, but I think it’s very important not to dish details. We are friends and we coparent our son. When he gets older I don’t want him to read anything about me saying anything about his father or vice versa. When there’s a child involved I think the less information given is best.

ESSENCE.com: Let’s address some of the rumors out there. Apparently, folks believe you left your husband for Lil Wayne. Is that true?

S.K.: (Laughs) That’s absolutely not true. Yes, we know each other but I absolutely did not leave my husband for him.

ESSENCE.com: There’s also been some buzz that you had cosmetic surgery—a nose job.

S.K.: (Laughs) Not true. I’ve heard that one, too. That one actually cracked me up. I mean if I got some surgery, I would wait until I’m older and pop out a couple more kids.

ESSENCE.com: So even if you had had cosmetic surgery, you wouldn’t be ashamed to admit it?

S.K.: No.

ESSENCE.com: What’s the craziest rumor you’ve heard about yourself?

S.K.: I think the craziest rumor was that my dad paid my son’s father $1 million to marry me. That was everywhere at one time, and that was really funny. I always joke that I wish we had it like that: “Here, take a million dollars, marry her…”

To read the rest of the interview click here

The interview was a good read; it’s about time she set the record straight on her marriage situation. In recent times, Solange seems to have emerged as one of the more outspoken members of the extra-private Knowles clan. Anyway, Solange’s forthcoming album ‘Solange & The Hadley Street Dreams’ is set for release early next year.

Superstar diva Mariah Carey features on the cover for the November issue of Glamour Magazine. It goes to show that Mariah can b classy and still look good. A tidbit: LMAO at the ‘She’s Smarter and Saner – Britney, take notes’ caption.

Continuing what has become a trend this year, Eve is the latest in a string of artists to push back her upcoming album. ‘Here I Am’ was originally scheduled to drop on August 7th..then September 18th and most recently October 16th. The album now has a tentative release date of ‘2008’. No word yet on the reason for the delay. {Source}

Is there even a point anymore? Not one of the albums that have been serially pushed back this year ended up shifting (m)any units. Like with the Kelly Rowland’s and Mya’s before her, public interest will start to wane (if it hasn’t already), hence making the album’s chances of success slim to none. These artists, labels or whoever really need to fix up.