Jamelia and Darren Byfield have officially announced that they are divorcing

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Jamelia heads for divorce court

Jamelia heads for divorce court
Singer Jamelia and footballer Darren Byfield are to divorce after 17 months of marriage.

A statement on behalf of the pair said no-one else was involved in the split.

The R&B singer and the Walsall player broke up briefly in 2007 but Byfield later proposed at a surprise birthday party the singer threw for him.

The pair have a four-year-old daughter, Tiani, and Jamelia has a another daughter, eight-year-old Teja, from a previous relationship.

New material

"It is with regret that Jamelia and Darren Byfield today confirm they are splitting up and getting a divorce. No-one else is involved. Their priority is naturally their two children," a statement on behalf of the couple said.

The couple married in West Sussex in June last year.

Jamelia is currently working on a new album - a new track titled Break It Down Tear It Up has appeared on the internet but it is not yet known if it will be on the album or if it will be released as a single.

She recently attended the London premiere of Dead Man Running, a gangster film starring rapper 50 Cent and Brenda Blethyn, financed by footballers Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand.