Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Jennifer Hudson kicked off her first solo tour at the Palace Theatre in Albany, N.Y., Tuesday, and the Associated Press provided these photos from the event.

Jennifer, winner of this year’s Grammy for Best R&B Album, is on tour with Robin Thicke, and the tour lands in this area later this week with a Saturday show at the Lyric Theatre in Baltimore and a Sunday show at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

Jennifer also released additional tour dates earlier this week, including a May 16 appearance at the Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. I couldn’t find any mention of ticket prices yet.

Jennifer’s self-titled debut album has spent 25 weeks on Billboard’s Hot 200 and at number 56 this week, down from 45 a week ago. Two of her singles are in the top 25 on the R&B singles chart — “Spotlight” at number 24 and her latest release “If This Isn’t Love” at number 13.