Ne-Yo sues R Kelly over tour dismissal

Ne-Yo has filed a lawsuit against R Kelly over his dismissal from the R'n'B star's recent tour.

The singer signed up to provide support on all 25 dates of his tour but he was dropped in November after just two performances.

Ne-Yo and his representatives Compound Touring are suing R Kelly and Row Entertainment Inc. for breaching the contract. The artist accused the singer of removing him from the lineup because he did not like the fact that the first reviews praised Ne-Yo more than him.

However, R Kelly's spokespeople insisted that the star was let go due to contractual differences and that it was the concert promoters, rather than R Kelly himself, that chose to remove Ne-Yo.

Ne-Yo also accused him of still owing over £350,000 for the appearance fee he had agreed for coming on the tour.

A representative for R Kelly told the Associated Press: "Ne-Yo may think blaming the situation on R Kelly will improve his chances of collecting from the promoter, but if he does, he is sadly mistaken.

"Anyone remotely familiar with R Kelly knows he is confident enough in his own abilities to be happy to share the stage with enormously talented people - the more talented, the better."