After months of speculation, Mariah Carey
has finally been dropped by EMI RECORDS with a payout of £19 million ($28 million).
The payout, which brings her five-album deal to a premature end, was announced to the London Stock Exchange late yesterday (January 23).
signed to EMI subsidiary Virgin in April 2001 for an estimated £70 million, one of the most lucrative deals in the recording industry’s history. But the writing was on the wall for the star when ‘Glitter’, her debut album for the label, sold a poor two million worldwide, as opposed to the 20 million of her 1993 record ‘Music Box’.
suffered a nervous breakdown in 2001 and was unable to promote the album or film of the same name in which she starred. She was admitted to psychiatric care in August with her publicists blaming “extreme exhaustion”.
NME.COM first broke the news of Mariah Carey‘s
departure from her label on December 26 but until yesterday it was constantly denied.
The future for Mariah Carey is uncertain.