Michael
Jackson quits label after 25 yrs
Though
it's not been confirmed by the record label itself, the king of pop Michael
Jackson said he has parted ways with Sony his record label of 25 years. He
states his reasons for leaving as being 'a lack of promotion for his
latest album 'Invincible'.
Said
Michael "A
record company leaves you no choice when they virtually give up on
promoting your album but I've always said that great art never dies and
this isn't the end of Michael Jackson". His label Sony
have released a statement about Mr. Jackson, which does not actually
confirm he has left the company.
It states: "Over the years Sony
Music has gone to great lengths to create and maintain a worldwide
audience for Michael Jackson's music.
"In introducing Michael's
most recent release, 'Invincible', to the global marketplace,
Sony Music created and executed a series of world-class marketing,
promotion and publicity campaigns fully befitting Michael's status
as a global superstar."
"We are extremely proud of all
that we have accomplished on Michael Jackson's behalf and remain
dedicated to further expanding the reach of Michael's music. We
join his fans in celebrating the many achievements of this singular
artist." More to follow on this I'm sure
__________________________________________________________________
Jenkins:
new TLC album is 'full of innovative bangers'
The
album that TLC
are finishing without the late Lisa
"Left Eye"
Lopes
will include what producer Rodney
Jerkins
described as "the most beautiful ballad that I've ever done in my
life." Jerkins took a break Tuesday from recording with Tionne
"T-Boz"
Watkins
and Rozonda
"Chilli"
Thomas
to attend the BET Awards. "It was very emotional when we first
started, 'cause we started around the time when [Lopes] passed,"
Jerkins said before the ceremony as he made his way up the red carpet.
"But we started, and it's clicking now, and I think everyone's
working harder because of
the situation. Expect the best from this project, really, the best from
all of us." -
- The
album, which will include vocals Lopes recorded before she died in that
fatal car accident on
April 25, is mostly filled with what Jerkins called "innovative
bangers." Dallas
Austin
and Raphael
Saadiq have also
contributed production work. Aside from tracks for the TLC album,
Jerkins has recently produced a song called "Wishful
Thinking"
with Chilli
and Carlos
Santana for the
Carlos's upcoming album and a remix of Cher's
'A Different Kind
of Love Song.'
-
- "It's
incredible to be able to work with a true diva," Jerkins said.
"Cher said she just
wanted me to do my thing, which was the most incredible thing in the
world. And I had
fun doing it." Jerkins is planning to work with Whitney Houston in
the next few weeks and is also
focusing on developing a new rapper from Harlem named Fats.
His debut, Follow
Your
True Story, is
due later this year and will include the single "Stand
Up,"
featuring
Freeway
"I really believe that he's gonna be that next rapper that
everybody talks about," Jerkins
said.
_________________________________________________________________
Stephanie
Renee at last to release debut set
At
long last Philadelphia's own Stephanie
Renee
will be dropping her debut release 'Suite
Jezebel' which is due in the autumn
of this year. The talented young lady who speaks poetry in tongues (much in
the same way as fellow Philadelphian Jill
Scott) will garner similarities to Ms. Scott
for her style and flair. She has released an EP called 'Dulce'
which dropped last year that contained 'Pleasure
Seekers', 'Forbidden
Fruit' and 'See
me' among others both of
which merit the word - excellent.
Bearing this in mind, her full
length debut comes equipped with all of the above tracks and some new ones
as well. 'So High'
is a breath of fresh air with it's breezy instrumentation, 'Part
of me' has tints of jazz
highlighted with some old school soul feeling and let's not forget the
spoken word of 'IDology'
- pure bliss. As I noted earlier this one will be on record shelves in the
autumn so do pick up a copy if you come across it - money well spent.
