"It's an awkward time for singer-actor Marques Houston. The former Immature and IMx front man is readying the release of his third solo album, 'Veteran,' on Nov. 14, but he's at a stage in his career where his music is too mature for the kids and adults aren't quite sure if they're ready to embrace him. "It's a very tricky time for me," Houston told me while we chatted at The Ultimate Group offices in Woodland Hills, Calif. last week. "I've gone through that and pretty much my entire solo career it's been that way. The last album, 'Naked,' helped little bit. It started people saying, 'Okay, you know, we might be able to get with him now.' They still weren't all the way sure. They are still a little bit skeptical about it."Coming out of a group called Immature and being on the bubblegum teen series 'Sister Sister,' has made the transition into grown-up musician an uphill battle for Houston. "You got 'Sister Sister' still running and I was like 15 or 16 when I ended it. I started that when I was 12. That kind of confuses you because they run it on Disney like it's a new show. So people don't really know how old I am. I am 25. Most people don't know that. They still think I'm 19 or 20," he explained, before adding: "I think B2K was such a big group and I was with them a lot, people automatically thought I was like in the group or put me in the same age bracket."Now that he's embracing his new 'grown and sexy' image, does that mean Houston has done his last 'Scream Tour?' "Yeah! Yep," he said emphatically. The Los Angeles-bred entertainer said this album shows his growth as an artist and as an adult. "This album is a reflection of me as a man, as apposed to the 'Naked' album. [With that one] I was trying to say, 'Hey everybody, I'm grown up now!' On the first album it was like, 'Hey everybody, I'm a solo artist now! No more Immature! No more IMx!' I had points to prove on the first two albums but this one I am just going to let the music speak for itself. I think now, its just like I want the music to speak for itself. I think the adult crowd, once they hear it and once they see me and stuff like that, and they get to feel me on this new album and hear the things I am talking about, I think they'll kind of accept it," he said.Though Houston told me that 'Veteran' is "more personal," the singer wasn't keen on me asking him a few personal questions about his dating life. Though he confessed that he is dating a notable woman, who is in the industry, he wouldn't share who. (Though you know it's only a matter of time before I find out!) In addition, Houston was tight-lipped when I asked about him having previously dated Beyonce Knowles and Brandy."Let's not talk about who I dated," he said. "I just don't like to talk about that. I got my reasons I don't like to talk about that." One thing we did talk about however were the rumors that the 'You Got Served' star was posing for Playgirl magazine. Around the time of 'Naked's' release an online report surfaced saying that Houston had been offered $1 million to pose for a Playgirl pictorial. The glossy denied the report, claiming Houston's camp was exploiting the mag for cheap publicity, and then challenged him to put up or shut up. Houston says the whole thing was taken out of context. "It did get blown out of proportion," he admitted. "Somebody came to me and asked me would I do Playgirl. It was a joke, but I was like, 'If the money was right. If they paid me a million dollars.' So that was how the how thing started. It's what people do."And if Playgirl offered him $1 million would he consider posing now? "No. Not at all," he closed."

{Black Voices on AOL}