The R Kelly and Sade tours are two of the hottest tickets this summer. Sade’s tour features Ohio’s own John Legend. R. Kelly will be accompanied by opening acts Marsha Ambrosius and Keyshia Cole.

COLUMBUS OHIO – Concert goers in Columbus will have a feast of options to choose from in July. The month kicks off on a high note with two soul legends taking the stage of the Schottenstein Center on the campus of The Ohio State University: R. Kelly on Friday, July 8, and Sade on Sunday, July 10.

The R Kelly and Sade tours are two of the hottest tickets this summer. Sade’s tour features Ohio’s own John Legend. R. Kelly will be accompanied by opening acts Marsha Ambrosius and Keyshia Cole.

Kelly is touring in support of his latest album, “Love Letter.” The album is a throwback to classic soul, with tunes such as hit single “When a Woman Loves” recalling legendary crooners such as Sam Cooke. The song caught on so much that it earned Kelly a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance in February. The album also contains a tribute to Michael Jackson, a cover version of “You Are Not Alone,” which Kelly produced for Jackson.

Sade is touring in support of her Grammy-nominated 2010 album “Soldier of Love.” She also just released a new greatest-hits package, “Sade: The Ultimate Collection.”

“Soldier of Love” is only the sixth studio album Sade and her band have released during their 25-year career, and the first since “Lovers Rock” in 2000.

“I only make records when I feel I have something to say,” Sade explained in a message to fans on her Web site. “I’m not interested in releasing music just for the sake of selling something. Sade is not a brand.”

After the long hiatus following “Lovers Rock,” Sade reconvened her band in 2008 to record at pop star Peter Gabriel’s Real World studio, near Sade’s home in the countryside of southwest England. In a series of biweekly sessions at Real World, Sade sketched out the material for a new album with band members, bassist Paul Denman, guitarist and sax player Stuart Matthewman and keyboardist Andrew Hale.

Sade and the band completed “Soldier of Love” in the summer of 2009. Some of the songs sound like vintage Sade, such as “In Another Time,” which includes Matthewman’s distinctive sax playing. But other songs sound like nothing she’s ever done before, such as the guitar-driven “Soldier of Love” and reggae-influenced “Babyfather.”

“I never want to repeat myself,” Sade said. “And that becomes a more interesting challenge for us the longer we carry on together.”

For most of the past 20 years, Sade has prioritized her personal life over her professional career, releasing only three studio albums of new material during that time. Hr marriage to Spanish film director Carlos Scola Pliego in 1989, the birth of her daughter in 1996 and her move from London to rural Gloucestershire, where she now lives with a new partner, have consumed most of her time and attention.

“You can only grow as an artist as long as you allow yourself the time to grow as a person,” Sade said. “We’re all parents, our lives have all moved on. I couldn’t have made ‘Soldier of Love’ any time before now, and though it’s been a long wait for the fans – and I’m sorry about that – I’m incredibly proud of it.”

For tickets and more information about the Sade and R. Kelly concerts in Columbus, visit Schottensteincenter.com