Mariah Carey has dropped her latest manager, Jermaine DuPri, following the disappointing sales of her latest album, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chauntice. DuPri was the latest in a long string of managers for the pop superstar and only began working with him last year.
The news was first reported by Billboard.biz, which obatined a statement from DuPri confirming that he has parted ways with Carey. The signer and her label, Def Jam, did not comment on the news.
“I'm a very hands-on person when it comes to my work,” DuPri said. “I put my all into every project. But when I'm not allowed to do what I do, then I know it's time for me to move on. Mariah and I enjoy working together and will continue to make great music together in the future.”
It appears that Carey has already moved on to Kevin Liles of KWL Enterprises. A source for Billboard.biz notes that they haven’t signed any deals, but they started working together in June, when the Butterfly interactive beveralge line launched.
Carey’s album started on the Billboard 200 album chart in June at No. 3, but with only 58,000 copies. It was her worst debut for a non-holiday album since 1991’s Emotions, but even that had started with over 100,000 copies sold.
Since Chauntice was released on May 27, it has sold just 103,000 and has already disappeared from the Billboard 200.
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