Following several weeks of industry mumerings, it has been confirmed that Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is leaving Warner / Atlantic Records, and reportedly joining Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope label. Perhaps most shocking, however, is that his Bad Boy imprint will REMAIN over at Atlantic, hence after launching the careers of Day26, Cherri Dennis and everyone’s favourite ‘sanger’ Cassie, the mogul is leaving them behind to persue his career elsewhere. Ouch. Peep the report below:

With his contract wrapped, Sean “Diddy” Combs is ankling Warner Music Group/Atlantic Records as an artist, a source confirmed Friday.

Much-rumored departure does not affect WMG’s joint venture with hip-hop impresario’s imprint Bad Boy Entertainment and its acts, which will continue to move through Atlantic.

Bad Boy catalog remains at WMG in perpetuity.

Combs had not been prolific during his five years with WMG: He issued one album, “Press Play,” in 2006. Set debuted at No. 1 nationally.

Recent industry scuttlebutt has placed Combs’ forthcoming album “Last Train to Paris” at Interscope.

Implying a new Bad Boy-styled imprint may be in the offing, Combs said in a statement, “Now that the term of the Warner deal has ended, I have elected to accept an opportunity to move my recording career and future label venture to another company.”

{Source}

With next to no one really checking for Diddy as an artist (I mean come on now…), the real story here lies with the fact that Day26, Cassie and co are set to remain over at Bad Boy. If there was ever a time I was certain an act was set to be dropped, it’s now – unfortunately. That said, for some reason, I feel we’ll probably be seeing the oh-so-talented Cassie have her contract bought out and her make the move over with her lover boss.

Your thoughts?

Amidst all the drama surrounding the Sugababes, the group visited BBC Radio 1 yesterday to premiere the new version of their latest single, the Red One produced ‘About A Girl’, with new vocals by their latest addition Jade Ewen.

Without slinging mud Jade’s way, I must say, I prefer Keisha’s version by a mile. Something about this re-recorded version conveys a generic and rushed aura. Take a listen to each version, and let us know which you prefer:

Keisha’s version:



Jade’s version:

Hit or Miss?

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In other Sugababes news, check out their interview with Radio 1’s Scott Mills yesterday, in which they discuss Keisha’s departure and more.

Part 1



Part 2



While Jade came across well, I can’t say the same about Amelle and Heidi. If either were as media-trained as they should be at this time, they would have ascertained that it is not in their best interest to come across defiant or nonchalant about the past week’s events (especially Amelle); as, regardless of what was popping off behind-the-scenes, Keisha essentially was the Sugababes and should never have been booted.To think two people who weren’t even there at the group’s conception are the one’s lobbying for her ejection is disgusting. We don’t know what went on behind the scenes, yet if it was that volatile, surely the group could have just disbanded with their credibility in-tact – after this album. Instead, they are largely considered a joke by most now, and will have the utmost of up-hill struggles trying to claw back any notion of respect they once had. IMO, Heidi and Amelle seem so comfortable in the group, so much so that forcibly ousting the founding (and let’s be realistic, most talented) member was the only way forward. Heidi mentioned that she had to make the right decision, yet anyone with half-a-braincell (which makes me wonder about their management too) would have foreseen the backlash they’d receive after all this and let that factor into making such a decision. It’s actually all quite a shame, as – take away the group’s history etc – the current line-up do look great and, if  they were a new group, would actually stand quite a chance (particularly as we don’t have anything like them in the UK). However, the reality is that poor Jade has been thrust into a pretty sh*tty situation and it feels as if the group’s days are numbered.SMH….

Your thoughts?

Michael Jackson’s death is being treated as a homicide by the Los Angeles County Coroner, it has emerged tonight.

A law enforcement official in Los Angeles confirmed this evening that a ruling from the coroner’s office has deemed Jackson’s death to be a homicide.

An investigation is ongoing to determine whether anyone is to blame for Jackson’s death and to what extent, although homicide is not necessarily equivalent to murder and can include manslaughter.

In an affidavit unsealed today in Houston, it was also revealed that Jackson had lethal levels of the powerful anaesthetic drug propofol in his body when he died on June 25 and had been taking a “cocktail” of sedatives.

The court documents also revealed that Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, told detectives that he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for about six weeks. Court records showed that Mr Murray had been giving Jackson 50mg of propofol intravenously every night.

Propofol is a powerful sedative drug usually used as an anaesthetic during surgery and also by dentists and veterinary surgeons.

Though the results of Jackson’s autopsy have not yet been unsealed, Dr Murray told police that he had feared that Jackson was developing an addiction to propofol. He said that he had been trying to wean the singer off the drug by lowering the dosage to 25mg and mixing it with other drugs.

On the night of the popstar’s death, Mr Murray said that he had tried to get Jackson to sleep without using propofol and had instead administered valium at 1.30am and then lorazepam at 2am.

When the singer was still awake at 3am, Dr Murray gave him midazolam, another sedative. Dr Murray said that Jackson was demanding propofol, which he then administered at 10.40am.

Although Dr Murray admitted prescribing propofol, the Los Angeles Times today reported that the LA authorities had found no record of Mr Murray purchasing or ordering the drug under his medical license or official tracking number.

In the affadavit, Dr Murray also explains that propofol had been administered to the singer by a number of other doctors, in Las Vegas, Germany, and in his cosmetologist’s office. Jackson reportedly admitted to Dr Murray that he had been given a “cocktail” to help him.

On the day of Jackson’s death, Dr Murray said he had left Jackson to make phone calls to his Houston office and returned to find the singer was not breathing. He perfomed CPR while Jackson’s staff called the emergency services. Jackson was pronounced dead at the UCLA Medical Centre later that day.

An investigation is ongoing to ascertain whether Dr Murray’s actions in administering propofol to Jackson amount to negligence, which could lead to an involuntary manslaughter charge.

However, although Dr Murray has been interviewed twice by police, he has not been named as an official suspect. {Source}

Mariah Carey—despite idiotic postings elsewhere—is gearing up for her big new CD release.

Mariah feels so strongly about “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” that she’s even re-hired the PR powerhouse that made her second-stage career such a success. She’s back with Cindi Berger of PMK HBH. It was Berger who made her “Emancipation of Mimi” the biggest hit of Mariah’s career. Smart move.

Of course, that means both Mariah and Whitney Houston are now being repped by the same PR company. PMK’s Kristen Foster is handling Whitney with my old pal, Jill Fritzo.

“Memoirs” was scheduled for an August 25th release, then moved to September 15th. Now it’s set for September 29th. If the regular Grammy deadline had been in place—September 30th—Mariah would have made it. But the unfortunate early deadline of August 31st cut her off. So she has some slack time to get “Memoirs” just right.

The first single from Mariah’s CD will not be “Obsessed”—that was just a summer trifle, and it was a lot of fun. The real first official single is said to be a powerhouse ballad along the lines of “Vision of Love.” {Source}

Check out this lengthy clip of R&B star Ne-Yo giving advise to an up-and-coming female singer, in a video lifted from Jo Jo Capone’s DVD. As per the title of this post, you can see ol’ Shaffer didn’t hold back with his words. However, not ones to sensationalise anything, I can see where he was going with what he said – to an extent. The reality of the industry today is ‘looks over talent; not a good look’, but the reality nonetheless.

As for my take on Ne-Yo’s comments, I’m torn; on the one hand, he’s spouting the cold facts, yet on the other I’m thinking I’m not hearing much in the way of criticising the industry for the way it is and encouraging the lady to pursue her dreams regardless. After all, the likes of Fantasia, Jennifer Hudson, Jazmine Sullivan, among others, don’t necessarily fit the mould, yet still enjoy great success.

Your thoughts?

Last week, the internet was abuzz with the rumors that Kelly Rowland had been dropped by Columbia Records.

The day after the story surfaced online, the record company CEO, Robert Stringer attempted to quell the rumors by releasing a formal statement.

“Kelly Rowland is one of our finest contemporary artists and a musical force to be reckoned with. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with Kelly and we will continue our working relationship with her under the Destiny’s Child moniker. The decision for Kelly to seek other opportunities for her solo career was agreed upon mutually, and any reports to the contrary are false,” Stringer offered.

Anyone with a remote knowledge of the music business understood that since Rowland was signed to Columbia Records via a production deal with Music World Entertainment, the company founded by Mathew Knowles, it was inevitable that her deal with Columbia Records was compromised once the 28-year-old singer ended her management agreement with Knowles back in January.

Now my sources tell me that the real reason the story about Rowland leaked the way it did last week was so that no one would realize that Geffen/Interscope Records has opted not to further their relationship with Knowles’ daughter Solange Knowles.

The eclectic singer’s sophomore release ‘Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams’ has only sold around 138,000 units since its release in August of 2008 and Geffen/Interscope didn’t see the value in doing a new CD on her.

“Geffen did a one-off deal with Music World Entertainment for Solange and wasn’t interested in doing a new contract with her. People at the label really liked working with her because other than her infamous news outburst in Las Vegas, she was a constant professional. There were challenges dealing with her camp, but Solange was great to work with. In the end, the CD didn’t sell despite Solange’s countless high

profile appearances,” the record label source told me.

One of the record labels that Knowles has been meeting with about signing his youngest daughter is Epic Records.

Incidentally, Epic Records is also the label that had initially approached Rowland about a new recording contract upon learning that she would be dissolving her management and recording relationship with Music World Entertainment/Columbia.

Epic’s new president Amanda Ghost, a London-bred former recording artist and songwriter, recognized Rowland’s impact as an international recording artist and thought she would be able to duplicate her European success here in America.

“Amanda was really into signing Kelly and then Matthew started meeting with her about Solange. I’m told he used his influence in the Sony system with Beyonce to complicate the existing offer to Kelly and then the deal ultimately didn’t happen,” the source explained.

Ghost was recently spotted at the South By Southwest Music Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas where she was apparently scouting Solange, who performed on the last night event.

So both Rowland and Solange are now currently without record company homes; though I am told that Rowland will likely be announcing a new record deal in the coming weeks.

At press time, a rep for Music World Entertainment was unavailable for comment.

Wow! All I can say is: the plot thickens…