Submitted by: kirkland on Tuesday November 23rd, 2004 at 09:50 PM EST

Former “American Idol” champ Ruben Studdard has been hospitalized just as his new album hits the stores.

Studdard, 26, was in his Alabama hometown Monday night when he fell ill and was taken to the hospital, said Liz Morentin of J Records.

Exhaustion was to blame, although more tests were due to be performed, Morentin said Tuesday.

She said Studdard “will likely remain in the hospital through the end of the week. All promotion for his new album this week has been canceled.”

Studdard went to the hospital on his own and had been feeling sick over the last two weeks, Morentin said.

“I Need an Angel,” released Tuesday, is Studdard’s follow-up to last year’s “Soulful,” which sold over 1 million copies.

» Read full story @ MSNBC