NEW YORK • Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams (above), who said he is not a perfect man after sexual misconduct claims surfaced, is reportedly being probed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over whether he engaged in sexually explicit communication with an underage fan.

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that a woman said her online contact with Adams, 44, began when she was 14 and continued until she was 16.

On Thursday, FBI agents reportedly opened a criminal probe. If they find her account credible, they could get her cellphone and Adams' records.

A lawyer for the woman, now 20, declined to comment.

The Times reviewed communication between Adams and her, including tweets that began when she was 14, and more than 3,000 text messages spanning a nine-month period when she was 15 and 16.

The messages from late 2014, when she was 16, included explicit photographs of her. She said the pair also conducted video calls on Skype, where Adams exposed himself during phone sex.

Throughout their exchange, he asked repeatedly about her age. "Do me a paranoid favour," he wrote in November 2014, when she was 16. "Show me you are 18."

After the publication of the article, Adams tweeted to apologise to "anyone I have ever hurt, however unintentionally", though he disputed the accuracy of the reporting.

Other women interviewed by The Times said he often dangled potential career opportunities as he pursued female artists in sexual scenarios.

"Music was a point of control for him," said his ex-wife, singer-actress Mandy Moore.

The allegations that Adams manipulated and harassed women in the industry sent ripples through the business. "We're all fed up," singer Vanessa Carlton tweeted.

NYTIMES