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…

Jawn: I hear you and Chilli have been approached about a TLC movie. Monique Coleman from ‘High School Musical’ says it’s her dream to play Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in a film.

T-Boz: That’s awesome to hear. I am interested now whereas I wasn’t before. I actually do want to pursue making this movie. We’re talking to companies now so right now it’s just talk. People are actively pursuing it and that’s a great thing.

Jawn: What actress would you like to play you in the film?

T-Boz: It would have to be a girl who has a lot of cool personality like a prissy tomboy. She has to look good with blond hair, because she must swag out the blond. I love Kyla Pratt. She has a lot of personality and a lot of spunk. I think Meagan Good can do it, too. I like both of them. In ‘ATL,’ Lauren London played me and she did a great job. ‘ATL’ was about Dallas Austin and my experience growing up in the skating rink. The only difference was that we [were not in a relationship]. That was part of the movie. I executive produced it, and it was a part of my life. That was really my story.

Jawn: What actress should play Chilli? I pick Keshia Knight Pulliam or Tatyana Ali or anyone else who can brush down their baby hair.

T-Boz: Those are two good picks. Keshia still has that valley girl in her and so does Tatyana, so they make great looks, but they have to get rid of the valley girl part, because Rozanda has no valley girl in her at all. You can buy the lace-front weave and anybody can have her hair. All you got to do is call up Tyra Banks and ask her where she gets her wigs from.

Jawn: Alicia Keys got you and Chilli to reunite and perform on last year’s BET Awards. How did it make you feel that a singer who wasn’t even in a girl group professionally wanted to celebrate TLC, SWV and En Vogue like that?

T-Boz: I love Alicia and that was the only reason I did it. We’ve never said yes to perform with anybody, ever. She is one of those people that you respect and feel honored to be asked and that’s why we said yes. I don’t count the BET Awards as a real TLC performance. That was just a mess altogether. That was a terrible day for me. It wasn’t a regular TLC show anyway. At a real TLC show, we run things and are energetic and dance. That was just a hot mess. I’m very excited to do what we do, and I’ll be back in my element. That sure wasn’t my element. I’m happy to be back, and we’ll be doing it the way that we do it.

Jawn: When you hear stories about what’s going on with Destiny’s Child and Kelly Rowland having to fire Matthew Knowles to finally get attention, what are your thoughts?

T-Boz: They get mad when I say this, but I don’t give a damn. It was all about Beyonce anyway. She was my favorite, too, but come on. Her parents are over everything. Who do you think they were going for? It’s always Beyonce. It was supposed to be exactly the way it is now, Bey is on top. I love Beyonce, and I am a fan of hers. She was my favorite in the group even before they were Destiny’s Child and they were the Baby Dolls. She was so cute and pretty. I like all of them, and I wish Kelly the best. When you’re in a girl group, you have differences, and you have to learn how to respectfully agree to disagree. There are a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that people don’t know about. Some girl groups have girls trying to steal other girls’ boyfriends and that’s the ultimate no-no. You have situations like the Kelly thing and Beyonce’s parents. You can say that I’m out for everybody, but if Lisa was to bring somebody in that’s her boyfriend, then I’m gonna feel like you got Lisa’s back more than mine, and that’s gonna be a no-no. I just think that brings a conflict of interest in the beginning. That would have been a hard group for me to be in, because I would have been like your mommy and daddy are running things and they’re gonna have you at heart the most. That’s just how I feel.

Wow…she really went there LOL. I must say, I’m really liking T-Boz’s blunt and frank delivery.

Pussycat Doll only lead singer Nicole Scherzinger took center stage at WWE’s Wrestlemania 25 extravaganza in Houston, Texas last night, opening the show with ‘America The Beautiful’. While her rendition wasn’t completely terrible, it was down right cringeworthy for the most part. Strained, off and generally ‘a mess’ are what immediately comes to mind after watching this one.

Tidbit: Random, I know, but as a big WWE fan, I was wondering if anyone else caught Wrestlemania last night? HBK vs The Undertaker was a classic! Ok, enough of my rambling…

What do you think of the performance?

X Factor winner Alexandra Burke has arrived in Los Angeles to start work on her debut album.

The 20-year-old singer is expected to spend the next two months in the US after completing the ITV1 show’s live stadium tour last week.

According to the Sunday Mirror, Burke will begin by teaming up with music producer Red One, who has recently collaborated with Akon and Lady GaGa.

An insider told the newspaper: “She is so excited. This is the moment she’s been waiting for – to get into the studio and start work.”

Simon Cowell recently predicted that Burke can match the success of X Factor’s 2006 winner Leona Lewis, saying “she can be as big as Leona. We’ve already selected three or four songs for her and I’m happy with what we’ve done so far.” {Source}