R Kelly

R&B singer-songwriter R. Kelly and his wife, Andrea, have separated, and she has hired one of Chicago's top divorce attorneys after being granted an emergency protective order this month accusing her husband of physical abuse, stalking, harassment and interfering with her personal liberty, MTV News reported. R. Kelly released a statement saying that he was trying to work things out after "a heated argument," adding that even though both have retained lawyers, "it's not a divorce proceeding."

It was Coachella's best-kept secret. At the end of a day filled with speculation that Phoenix would share its headlining set on the main stage with Daft Punk, the French band instead brought out R. Kelly, the one-of-a-kind R&B star, for a supremely unlikely mash-up of its song "1901" and Kelly's "Ignition (Remix). " The surprise shocked the festival crowd, which responded -- after the inevitable surge of camera-phone flashes -- in the only way possible: by turning the grounds of the Empire Polo Club into a vast dance floor.

Detectives illegally seized photographs allegedly showing R&B singer R. Kelly having sex with an underage girl, and prosecutors cannot use them to try him on child pornography charges, a judge in Bartow, Fla., ruled Thursday. Circuit Judge Dennis Maloney agreed with Kelly's lawyers that Polk County sheriff's detectives did not have enough evidence to justify a search of Kelly's Davenport home when they asked a judge for a warrant in 2002.

R&B singer R. Kelly's zany and wildly popular "hip hopera," "Trapped in the Closet,” might be heading to the Broadway stage. Kelly revealed the latest chapters of his operatic, serial narrative of songs and music videos -- which he's worked on for the last five years and which debut on IFC Friday -- to a live audience Monday at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema in Manhattan. He also dropped the B-bomb: an offer to bring the narrative to the stage in a performance he may even appear in, according to the Associated Press.

The courtroom fate of R. Kelly remains uncertain -- he still faces felony child pornography charges in Illinois and Florida -- but his stature in the marketplace remains strong. The R&B singer is expected to claim the No. 1 spot on the U.S. pop album chart this week. "Chocolate Factory," Kelly's seventh album, was released Feb. 18 and, according to retailers, should top 500,000 copies sold in its first week.

Prosecutors in Bartow, Fla., dropped all child pornography charges against R. Kelly after a judge ruled that photos allegedly showing the singer having sex with an underage girl were illegally seized. The decision, announced Wednesday, doesn't mean that Kelly is out of trouble. The R&B singer still faces 14 counts of child pornography in his home state of Illinois, stemming from a videotape allegedly showing him having sex with an underage girl.

R&B star R. Kelly will return to the music scene in mid-January with the release of his new album, "Chocolate Factory," his first major project since his June indictment on felony child pornography charges in his hometown of Chicago. Kelly had been slated to release an album titled "Loveland" in November, but that collection has been shelved.

A judge ruled Friday that R&B singer R. Kelly, who has been free on bond since he was indicted on child pornography charges, can leave the state to appear at a nightclub in Miami this weekend. But Judge Vincent Gaughan ordered him to surrender his passport and refrain from any illegal contact with minors. The Grammy-winning singer was silent during the hearing.

A judge refused Friday to dismiss child pornography charges against Grammy Award-winning vocalist R. Kelly, rejecting arguments that the period in which the offenses were supposed to have occurred was too vague. Judge Vincent Gaughan of the Cook County Criminal Court said that the 14-count indictment against the 36-year-old entertainer would stand and that "the evidence is sufficient for Mr. Kelly to prepare a defense."

The "Unfinished Business" between Jay-Z and R. Kelly just turned ugly. The rapper and the R&B star have a new album of that title in stores, but it's a good bet their partnership will be ending right there. After a bizarre sequence of events over the weekend, the platinum-selling stars have severed their concert-tour partnership and unleashed their publicists and attorneys on one another.

R. Kelly had already been onstage for half an hour Friday night at Nokia Theatre when he announced that it was time to say what was on his mind. “I [conceived] three kids listening to my own music,” sang the R&B star in apparent improvisation over a midtempo vamp by his eight-piece band. “You did it," he sang. "Why can't I?” The idea: If Kelly's audience has used his music as an aphrodisiac -- a service he's been providing for 20 years without interruption -- then shouldn't he be entitled to the same privilege?

OAKLAND - During R. Kelly's "Single Ladies" show Wednesday , every crotch grab, pelvic thrust and naughty exchange with the audience - and there were plenty - was met with screams, whether it came from the nosebleed seats, the orchestra pit or the two bars built into his set (six ladies watched from the stage, with cocktails). "All of the single ladies are going to come out, and that's going to bring the guys because they are going to go somewhere all the ladies will be," Kelly said with a laugh in his dressing room before the show at Paramount Theatre while sipping a cocktail of his own. "We're going to make this one big giant music matchmaking game.

"Cruel Summer," the new compilation from Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music imprint, sets an intense mood from the start. Were this a novel, fellow Chicagoan R. Kelly's sweet voice would introduce the first chapter: "Let me see you put your middle fingers up to the world," he says to his flock on "To the World" and you can almost taste the impending venom. The first word out of Kanye West's mouth is more direct: a 12-letter vulgarity, and from that invective springs a series of verses that over 12 tracks travels the world with some attention given to his hometown of Chicago What's up in Chicago?

R. Kelly is ready to put the vocal issues that have delayed his performance schedule behind him: The Grammy Award-winning singer announced Tuesday that he's hitting the road for a U.S. tour this fall. Kelly will launch his Single Ladies tour on Oct. 13 in Columbia, S.C.,  joined by R&B songstress Tamia. The 22-date trek stretches until December and is scheduled to roll into L.A.'s Nokia Theatre on Nov. 2. The singer has had a rough year after vocal issues sidelined him. Last summer, he was forced to take a hiatus from the stage after undergoing emergency throat surgery for an abscess on one of his tonsils.

R. Kelly   won't be sailing the high seas with his biggest fans. The Grammy Award winner was supposed to embark on a "Love Letter Cruise," leaving Miami on Oct. 1, where Kelly and more than 2,600 of his biggest fans (with some very deep pockets) would sail for five nights and the singer would anchor two headlining concerts -- along with a small roster of support acts. Kelly jumped ship after he claimed the cruise's promoter, Concerts Cruise  LLC, failed to pay him. “Concerts Cruise LLC has been unable to meet its financial obligations to a scheduled cruise with featured performer   R. Kelly   and will therefore have to cancel this cruise,” a statement from the singer reads.

R. Kelly  has been vocal about his voice issues. After the R&B superstar underwent surgery last summer to drain an  abscess on one of his tonsils, Kelly wrote about the operation and any speculation that he might  have permanent voice problems in last year's song, "Shut Up. " In the angry little slow jam, Kelly thanked the heavens for keeping the doctors focused and made it clear that his voice was in fine form.  However, Kelly doesn't appear...

Multimillion-selling R&B musician R. Kelly will be allowed to leave Illinois for his most extensive out-of-state trip since being indicted last year on 21 counts of child pornography. A judge in Cook County, who must OK any of Kelly's trips outside the state, on Monday approved the singer's proposed itinerary for a five-city, headlining concert tour that starts Aug. 15 in Oakland and includes an Aug. 16 date at the Forum in Inglewood. The other stops are Washington, D.C.

As troubled R&B singer R. Kelly made his first court appearance Thursday in relation to child pornography charges, radio stations around the country grappled with whether to continue playing the popular artist's music. Appearing in a Polk County, Fla., courthouse near his home, where he was arrested Wednesday, Kelly, 34, listened as the judge set bail at $750,000 and forbade him to have contact with minors unrelated to him. Kelly later posted bond and was freed.