It seems winning American Idol is no guarantee that you’ll actually keep your major label deal. Just before Christmas, rumors began circulating that season 2’s Ruben Studdard, who released three albums for J Records since 2003 (the latest, 2006’s The Return, to modest sales), had been dropped. (Studdard continues his management contract with 19 Entertainment.) Now the Hollywood Insider hears that season 5 winner Taylor Hicks has also lost his J Records deal. “Taylor is going to record his next album on his own,” said a label rep. “He is no longer on the J Records roster.” Back in March 2007, we wrote about Hicks’ performance on the charts and later analyzed several more Idol hits and misses. What does this mean for the latest winner, Jordin Sparks? Or, with season 7 kicking off on January 15, the franchise’s star-making power?
Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard dropped from J Records?
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Comments (1-30) of 369 Add your comment
that is great j records did nothing to help taylor now he can make his own next album the way he want it way to go taylor soulpatrol.
that is great j records did nothing to help taylor now he can make his own next album the way he want it way to go taylor soulpatrol.
WOOOOO!!!!! That is great news if true! Taylor can now record *HIS* music his way. J Records sucks, Clive sucks even more.
Great news, now he can go back to making his music his way. He did it before and those albums are great. They were written and produced by Taylor. He was promoting those CDs at his concerts, that money goes into his pocket, not Clives!!! YAY!!!!!!
J records never did a thing to promote Taylor and his album. I am a happy fan!!! He stayed true to himself and wouldn’t sell out.
Wooooooooo!! I couldn’t be happier for Taylor. This is the best thing that could have happened for him.
I hope it is true, too. j records shabby treatment hurt more than helped Taylor’s sales. Now he’ll be able to make his album his way, and thumb his nose at clive and company. Go Taylor!
J records did nothing for Taylor Hicks, so this is the best thing that could happen for him. Taylor sold over 800,000 records worldwide without any radio play, promotion etc. They wouldn’t even restock his cd. I also heard that it was Taylor that wanted out of his contract…..So, go Taylor. You can do it your way now. The Soul Patrol loves you and will back you all the way!
J.Records & Clive Davis did nothing for Taylor Hicks. He is not stupid and wanted out of this contract for months now. Can’t wait to hear his next CD without the compromise of American Idol’s fake pop, country & rock genres. HEADLINES: Taylor Hicks stays true to who he is.
YES!!!!!! It has been rumored that Taylor wanted out from under Clive. Taylor is a smart business man he will be better than ever.
WOOOOO HOOOOO I AM SO HAPPY THAT TAYLOR WILL NO LONGER BE UNDER CLIVE’S COAT TAIL. TAYLOR IS TO SMART FOR CLIVE. TAYLOR KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS AND HE IS GOING AFTER IT.
U think this is great news for all Taylor fans. Clive davis is an idiot from the things I’ve heard. Taylor is too good for the kind of pop they try to promote. It’s really been downhill ever since season one.
Good for Taylor, they didn’t do diddly squat for him. It was always about Daughtry.
When’s Clay’s turn to be dropped, anyway? Clive Davis seems to be determined to run his career into the ground.
WOOOO-HOOOOO!!!!!! I’m so happy for Taylor. He probably bought out his contract. He wanted out from the get go, good for him! No more Clive shoving Diane Warren songs down his throat! Way to go Taylor!
I’m really happy for Taylor. Now he can be free of Clive Davis who did everything in his power to see to it that Taylor didn’t get heard. IMO this is the beginning for Taylor and his career. It’s all up from here.
If it were up to the record companies and popular radio we’d all be listening to Umbrella-ella-ella songs and Underwood/Daughtry schlock 24/7. Since buying Hicks’ first two independent albums and looking into his musical interests I’ve discovered Blues, Soul, and southern rock. Thank God for people like Taylor and thank God for satellite radio!
Taylor’s been trying to break away from Idol since a year after he won. Good for him! Now maybe he can get back to what it’s really all about, the music. Can’t wait to see what other surprises he has in store for us!
I’m a proud member of the “Soul Patrol”. We love you Taylor.
I’m a proud member of the “Soul Patrol”. We love you Taylor.
Taylor said it best a long time ago: American Idol is fizzling out for him. So long, sucka, the fizz is long gone from your tepid jug of cheesy, bad singing.
Truth is, Taylor Hicks hasn’t done much for Taylor Hicks. He should have come out of the Idol gate swinging. After all his talk about “real”, he ended up giving one honest interview (to Relix) and then pussied out and kissed pop-butt for the next year. Wrong move, Mr. Soul Patrol. I was only along for the real, and that was over a long time ago.
Getting away from AI will be the best thing for his career. I’m happy for him.
LOL @ the fading renements of the SP trying to act like this is a good thing. Yeah, he’ll take off now just like Justin Guarini did. How are those middle school performances going, by the way?
Dang, guess it’s back to laying around in my basement again. We finally got it properly fumigated from the last time he stayed here. Why, Clive, why?
Taylor will never make it on any label, his 15 mins are long over. The only reason he even was signed by J records is because he won AI and that was due to power voting by the Soul patrol.
He’s still under the AI 19 contract restrictions with no publicist or future prospects. He’ll be lucky to sell a few cds out of the trunck of his car.
I’ll pay someone else to give the boy a record deal! Please don’t make me have to deal with him again!
LOL @ the people that think that being dropped from a record label is a positive thing for a musician! Sorry, but there’s nothing positive about it! The truth is, Taylor didn’t want to get rid of the label, the label wanted to get rid of Taylor because his music SUCKS and no one wants to buy it. The Soul Patrol are always going on about how many copies of his CD they buy each week, so it’s the same delusional fans that have been buying it every week for months now, which is the only reason his sales haven’t hit ZERO yet, but they’re so close to it. I see the posts about how Taylor is now “free”, but the only thing he’s free to do now is continue his career as a MALL SINGER. I hope he enjoys selling CD’s out of his trunk, because if he’s pays to make another independent one, that’s where they’ll be sold from, unless he sells them at a flea market as well! Taylor’s career is now officially OVER, so just accept it SP!
It’s so funny that the SP are trying to claim that maybe Taylor “bought out” his contract. In order to buy something, it has to have some worth, and his contract was so worthless they probably tossed a few bucks his way and told him to JUST GO AWAY. They are finally rid of this albatross around their necks. Hey, another good thing, they don’t have to mention his name on AI anymore. Not that they were planning to anyway.
My boy’s been selling in the tens for WEEKS now! Think of how many times you can fill your gas tanks per month on that kind of paper, record exec people!
Hey, Taylor’s Mama, quit giving that poor boy of yours the “Runnaound.” He tried to save the world with his real F***ing music and now your house is “The Right Place” for him. I bet he wants to know from his momma, Do I make you Proud?