Leona Lewis Fights Pre "X-Factor" Album Release, Performs in NY W/ Ne-Yo

It happened to Ashanti with The Vault, now Leona Lewis is fighting to keep material from surfacing from her days before "X-Factor" fame. Lawyers for the singer are currently working to prevent a London record company from releasing an album she made before winning the popular British show. Ashanti didn't have any luck keeping her old songs in "the vault." Will Leona fare better? According to Gigwise.com, London based label, UEG Music, plan on releasing Best Kept Secret in the UK next January. The album already proved successful after dropping in Japan earlier this year. The album contains songs Lewis recorded early in her career, including the track "Private Party" which has been pretty popular online. Lewis' attorneys say UEG do not own the rights or have Lewis' consent to release the songs.

"We are in the process of taking the appropriate action in relation to this," lawyers for Lewis commented via statement.

UEG's Barry Bee has claimed to the BBC that they did have the rights, and claim they spent £70,000 on the recordings. "We do have the rights. We had stuff out in 2004-2005," he said. "All we seek is acknowledgement and to let people hear what she did. It's good stuff."

Wow, you mean Simon Cowell didn't really "discover" Leona Lewis??? Shocking!

Listen to a version of "Private Party" ft. Ludacris below.




So that's the bad news for Leona. The good news is that the singer will be taking part in this year's Hennessy Artistry Finale.





The event will join Leona with Ne-Yo (who served as the inaugural curator for this year's Hennessy Artistry event series) as well as Fabolous, at New York's Gotham Hall tomorrow (10/15) for a collaboration performance.


Leona and Fab were hand-selected by Ne-Yo, who was chosen to oversee the details of the event. Lucky guests will be treated to the collaborative performance, as well as a solo performance from Leona, who is expected to sing material from her Spirit album, including "Bleeding Love" and "Better in Time." Fabolous is also set to perform his hits "Can't Deny It" and "Make Me Better." DJ Cassidy and DJ Jazzy Jeff will be manning the decks for the invitation-only event.

Wednesday's event caps off the 2008 Hennessy artistry concert tour, which included 6 private shows from artists including LL Cool J, Ashanti and Fat Joe. I went to last year's Hennessy artistry finale event at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, and it was crazy -- and I mean that in a good way. Fall Out Boy and Pharrell performed and for a crowd that included Kelis, Dania Ramirez and Ashlee and Jessica Simpson. It was hot. Hopefully they'll send over some pictures from the event so I can share them with you Thursday. I know Leona is gonna kill it!

source: http://blogs.sohh.com/soul/2008/10/leona_lewis_fights_pre_x-facto.html