Akon touching down

Akon's hard-edged hip-hop and catchy dance floor hits are on the menu for his first Chinese mainland tour, on Nov 4 at Beijing's Mastercard Center, Nov 5 at Shanghai's Mercedes Benz Arena and Nov 7 at Guangzhou Stadium.

The multi-platinum superstar, who is the boss and broker of Lady Gaga, will bring his hit songs including Mr Lonely, Right Now, Beautiful and Oh Africa, which he sang for the World Cup in South Africa 2010.

"We had a show set up a few years ago and had to cancel for some reasons, but I am excited to finally get the chance to visit China and be able to perform. I hope that I have time to explore," the 38-year-old singer-songwriter says in an e-mail interview.