R Kelly has “unequivocally” denied allegations that he has held a number of young women in an “abusive cult”, following a startling investigative report published on Monday that cited accounts from a number of the singer’s former associates.

“Mr Robert Kelly is both alarmed and disturbed at the recent revelations attributed to him,” said Kelly’s attorney, Linda Mensch. “Mr Kelly unequivocally denies such allegations and will work diligently and forcibly to pursue his accusers and clear his name.”

The investigation, published by BuzzFeed News, alleged that the 50-year-old singer exercised svengali-like influence over six younger women, monitoring their movements in locations in Chicago and Atlanta and denying them contact with the outside world.

According to the report, this arrangement included, until recently, “a 31-year-old ‘den mother’ who ‘trained’ newcomers on how Kelly liked to be pleasured sexually”.

“The women who live with Kelly, who he calls his ‘babies’, are required to call him ‘Daddy’ and must ask his permission to leave,” the report claimed, citing three former members of Kelly’s inner circle, two of whom said they had been sexually involved with Kelly and endured similar treatment.

Kelly controlled what the women wear, the sources said, and confiscated their mobile devices. The sources also accused Kelly of punishing them physically and verbally when they disobeyed his rules.

“You have to ask for food,” said Cheryl Mack, Kelly’s former assistant. “You have to ask to go use the bathroom. He is a puppet master.”

One of the alleged victims of Kelly’s manipulation, 21-year-old Joycelyn Savage, spoke to the website TMZ in a webcam interview on Monday night and denied the report, as well as claims by her parents that she has been “kidnapped” or “brainwashed”.

“I’m totally fine, I’m happy where I’m at. Everything is OK with me,” Savage said. At least one unidentified person was in the room with Savage during the interview, and she appeared to be receiving guidance on which questions to answer.

Savage would not answer questions on where she was living, who she was living with or whether she was free to leave.

Kelly catapulted to fame in the 1990s and 2000s with songs, such as Bump and Grind and Ignition (Remix). In 1994, then 27, he married the 15-year-old budding R&B singer Aaliyah using falsified documents, having produced her first album, Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number, three years prior. The union was later annulled.

Kelly was indicted for possession of child abuse images in 2002 and found not guilty after a trial in which the main witness refused to testify. He has settled at least a dozen other cases out of court. Last year, Kelly told GQ he regretted doing so, saying his accusers were lying.

“All of them. And it wasn’t many. It wasn’t like it was a whole ton of people. But the people that did were absolutely lying. Absolutely,” Kelly said.