New Michael Jackson album due in November: Could there be two?

Will his collaborations with Akon and will.i.am see the light of day?

By Katie Hasty Friday, Jul 30, 2010 5:59 PM

Michael Jackson

Credit: AP Photo

When the late Michael Jackson estate signed a deal with Sony for a posthumous 10-release deal, it was for over the next seven years. So it's about time they got crackin'.

According to Jackson manager Frank DiLeo, in an interview with Rolling Stone, a set of 10 previously unreleased songs will be out in time for Christmas this year, some time in November. He failed to mention, though, from what era of Jackson's career the songs would be culled.

DiLeo says there are more than 100 unreleased songs in the vault, including collaborations with Ne-Yo, Akon and will.i.am.

Earlier this week, producer Rodney Jerkins also claimed to be patching together a collection of songs he worked on with Jackson. He told VladTV, " "You know there is a lot of red tape, but it's definitely going to happen." No word when or how, but "happen" as a verb is active enough.

In other MJ news, the seven "other doctors" in the pop singer's life -- other than Dr. Conrad Murray -- were dropped from investigation of wrongdoing this week by the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.