November 26, 2007 16:01

Pete Doherty plans solo album

The star has already started work on the record

Photo Gallery: Babyshambles
Photo: Emilie Bailey

Pete Doherty is a quarter of the way through recording his debut solo album and plans to release it next summer, NME.COM can exclusively reveal.

Three of the album’s 12 tracks have been completed during secret recording sessions with producer Jake Foir.

Fior told NME.COM: “We’re recording it piecemeal between two studios in London. We go in for two or three hours at a time, usually at about two in the morning, and get stuff down. It sounds slower and more intimate [than Babyshambles]. Pete’s writing is more universal, rather than about personal experiences.”

Fior explained that a large cast of musicians will appear alongside Pete, including his Babyshambles bandmates, who play on the track ‘Cuckoo’.

South London band The Thirst, who visited Doherty at his Wiltshire home to demo with him, will also contribute, along with London rapper Klashnekoff.

Although recording for the album is well underway, Babyshambles' label, Parlophone, could halt its release. Fior explained that the plan is to finish the album then present it to the label with a view to an official release, but he says that so far Parlophone have been unhappy about Doherty recording outside of their control.

Fior was also able to reassure fans that, despite his heroin relapse, the Babyshambles mainman is “still on top form”, healthy and enjoying life in rural Wiltshire.

"I just spent a weekend with him – just me, him and the cats,” he recalled. “He’s out there in a 28-room mansion – it’s very ’60s-style and cool, I keep expecting Marianne Faithfull to come walking through one of the doors!”