BBC News Online: Entertainment: Music

Mariah 'in talks for new deal'

Carey was dropped after poor sales of her last album

The New York Post reports the star is talking directly to Def Jam president Lyor Cohen about a possible deal.

Carey has officially severed ties with Virgin Records after the company agreed to pay her £19m to leave, although the singer has threatened to sue the company over the wording of a statement.

Now she desperately wants to find a new stable willing to invest in her stalled career.

Carey signed to Virgin in a reported £70m five-album deal in 2001.

But her first album under the label, Glitter, failed to capture the imagination of fans and was branded a flop.

Her first lead role in a movie, also called Glitter, was savaged by critics and failed at the box office.

The New York Post reports Def Jam is offering a deal worth £2.1m and £3.5m per album.

Carey's spokeswoman admitted a number of record companies had approached the star but no deals had been agreed.

Counter-sue

Def Jam's roster of artists include LL Cool J, Method Man, Ja Rule and Jay-Z.

Lawyers for Carey are threatening to sue Virgin parent company EMI for saying it "terminated" her contract.

They are angry that EMI announced it was terminating the pop diva's £70m five-album deal, instead of the agreed wording, "cancelled".

The music giants are threatening to counter-sue the singer, if Carey's lawyers go ahead with court action.

Burt Fields said: "We will file a cross-complaint saying Ms Carey's representatives were making a lot of inflammatory statements around the world on Thursday which go way beyond the agreed press release."