Warrant issued for Brown arrest

Brown made his name in US group New Edition before going solo

An arrest warrant has been issued for US singer Bobby Brown after he failed to attend a child support hearing.

He had been summoned to a family court in Canton, Massachusetts, after allegedly failing to pay two children he had with ex-partner Kim Ward.

Mr Brown's lawyer said he had become ill but court register Patrick McDermott said he had not provided proof of the star's illness.

Mr Brown lives in Alpharetta, Georgia, with his wife, singer Whitney Houston.

Missed deadline

Mr McDermott said Mr Brown failed to make payments to an educational trust for the two children, had not proven his source of income and had not made a monthly child support payment by Wednesday's deadline.

Last June Mr Brown was sentenced to 90 days in prison for missing three months of child support payments. That sentence was suspended after Mr Brown subsequently paid $15,000 (£8,250).

If Norfolk Family Court finds he has violated the terms of the court order, it can impose its previous 90-day prison sentence.

Mr Brown, 36, was also jailed for a day in March 2004 after he failed to pay $63,000 (£34,600) he owed to Ms Ward. He was released after making the payment.

The singer hit the big time in the 1990s with the group New Edition before carving out a solo career with hits including My Prerogative and Every Little Step.

He married Houston in 1992 and they have one daughter together. He hopes to revive his career when his reality show Being Bobby Brown begins airing in the US in June.