Delta Goodrem - How A Dream Looks (2014)

Delta Lea Goodrem was born in Sydney on 9 November 1984, and by age seven she had appeared in an American advertisement for the former toy company Galoob, alongside fellow Australian Bec Hewitt. Around the same age she began playing piano, and also took up singing, dancing and acting lessons, appearing in adverts for companies such as Optus and Nesquik, and she also had several minor roles in episodes of Australian television shows, including 'Hey Dad..!', 'A Country Practice', and 'Police Rescue'. At the age of thirteen, she recorded a five-song demo CD, financed through her television work, which was sent to her favourite Australian rules football club Sydney Swans, and they passed it onto talent manager Glenn Wheatley. Wheatley signed Goodrem to an artist development deal with independent record label, Empire Records, and between June 1999 and September 2000 she worked with producers Paul Higgins and Trevor Carter on thirteen tracks for an album, to be called 'Delta'. During the sessions she was described as "an ambitious 15-year-old keen to emulate the pop sound of the Spice Girls, Britney Spears and Mandy Moore." Although most of the tracks were written by Carter, Goodrem co-wrote two and self-wrote the song 'Love'. Higgins took the album to Village Roadshow, which offered to market and distribute it, but the deal was blocked by Goodrem's parents, and the album has yet to surface.

After signing a recording contract with Sony Music, she began work on an album of pop–dance songs, but the first single from it, 'I Don't Care', only peaked at number sixty four on the ARIA Singles Chart in November 2001, and so the album and proposed second single, 'A Year Ago Today', were pushed aside as a result, allowing Goodrem and Sony to re-evaluate her future musical direction. In 2002, she took up the role as shy schoolgirl and aspiring singer Nina Tucker in the popular television soap opera 'Neighbours', which helped re-launch her music career, when the piano-based ballad 'Born to Try' premiered on the show, and reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart and the New Zealand singles chart, and number three in the UK. Her largely self-penned debut studio album, 'Innocent Eyes', was released on 24 March 2003 in Australia and debuted at number one on the ARIA Album Charts, breaking Australian records previously held by John Farnham's 'Whispering Jack' in 1986, by staying at number one for 29 consecutive weeks. In July, Goodrem was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of cancer, and this forced her to take a break from her career to undergo treatment, although singles from 'Innocent Eyes' kept her name in the public domain. In August 1999 she won seven ARIA Music Awards, including "Best Female Artist", surpassing Natalie Imbruglia's previous record of six awards in 1999. 

After announcing in late December 2003 that she was in remission from her cancer, Goodrem began work on her second studio album. In March 2004, while she was still undergoing cancer treatment, Higgins and Carter announced plans to release the album they had recorded with the then 15-year-old singer in 2000, igniting a bidding war amongst record companies. However, Goodrem and her family disapproved of the album's release, and a lawsuit was filed, claiming that the album was made up of unfinished demo recordings which were not fit for commercial release. After much coverage in the media, the case was settled in mediation, and in exchange for not releasing the album, Higgins and Carter received an unspecified payout. Her second studio album, 'Mistaken Identity', was released in Australia on 8 November 2004 and debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums chart. The third single from the album was 'Almost Here', a duet with Irish singer and then boyfriend Brian McFadden of Westlife, and it reached number three in the UK and became her seventh ARIA number one. On 15 March 2006, Goodrem performed a new song at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in front of 80,000 spectators, and up to 1.5 billion television viewers worldwide, with 'Together We Are One' being written specifically for the event. 

In October 2006, she promoted in Japan with the release of an updated version of 'Innocent Eyes', and the Japan-only single 'Flawed', which reached number one on the Japanese download chart. Goodrem's third studio album, the eponymous 'Delta', was released in Australia on 20 October 2007, and the material was a lot lighter compared to her previous album, which contained a number of songs written about her illness. On 24 November 2011, Goodrem was confirmed to be a part of the judging panel of the Australian version of 'The Voice' which aired in early 2012, coaching alongside Keith Urban, Joel Madden, and Seal. Some of her decisions on the show sparked criticism, with comments she was "all style" and "little substance", but despite that she returned for season two in 2013, again with Madden and Seal, with Ricky Martin replacing Urban. Her fourth studio album, 'Child Of The Universe', was released on 26 October 2012, and debuted at number two on the ARIA Charts, spending ten weeks in the top 50.  In November, she recorded a Christmas EP titled 'Christmas', and one of the tracks, 'Blue Christmas', was also featured on the album 'The Spirit of Christmas'. In November 2013 it was announced that Goodrem would not be returning to 'The Voice Australia' for the third season in 2014, but instead chose to be a part of the new Australian version of 'The Voice Kids', saying that this would give her more time on her music career and more time to work on her new studio album, although in 2015 she did return as a judge on 'The Voice Australia', and stayed there for the next six seasons. 

On 24 July 2015, Goodrem released 'Wings' as the lead single from her fifth studio album 'Wings Of The Wild', which peaked at number one on the ARIA Charts, and was certified double platinum, and the album followed on 1 July 2016. In 2017 she returned to television in the comedy drama series 'House Husbands', and she also became the V8 Supercars Australia ambassador, promoting the sport and being the official performer at the racing events throughout the year. In early 2021, Goodrem announced the release of her seventh studio album 'Bridge Over Troubled Dreams' for May of that year, alongside an autobiographical and photographic book bearing the same name, but the singles released from this record, and her albums over the previous seven years, no longer featured non-album tracks on the flips, and so this collection of rare singles, b-sides and bonus tracks ends in 2014. Goodrem's repertoire falls under the pop and adult contemporary styles, and heavily features the piano, which she usually plays barefoot while performing live. It has given her a long-lasting and well-respected career, particularly in Australia, but also in the rest of the world, selling over nine million albums globally. In June 2020, she launched the Delta Goodrem Foundation in partnership with St. Vincent's Hospital and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, with the aim of raising funds for the acceleration of innovative blood cancer research, and if only for that reason, she deserves this three disc collection of her hard to find recordings.  

Track listing

Disc I - 2001-2005
01 I Don't Care (single 2001)
02 Hear Me Calling (b-side of 'Lost Without You' 2003) 
03 Right There Waiting (b-side of 'Not Me, Not I' 2003) 
04 Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (b-side of 'Not Me, Not I' 2003) 
05 Lost For Words (b-side of Innocent Eyes' 2003)  
06 Here I Am (b-side of 'Predictable' 2003)  
07 Love (outtake 2003)
08 Right Here In My Heart (bonus track on the digital edition of 'Delta' 2003)
09 Beautiful Madness (b-side of 'Out Of The Blue' 2004) 
10 Visualise (b-side of 'Out Of The Blue' 2004)  
11 Nobody Listened (bonus track on the Australian edition of 'Mistaken Identity' 2004)
12 Hollow No More (feat. Brian McFadden) (b-sidem of 'Almost Here' 2005) 

Disc II - 2005-2007
01 How A Dream Looks (b-side of 'Mistaken Identity' 2005)  
02 Silence Be Heard (b-side of 'Mistaken Identity' 2005) 
03 Turn You Away (b-sidem of 'Almost Here' 2005) 
04 If I Forget (b-side of 'A Little Too Late' 2005) 
05 The Riddle (b-side of 'A Little Too Late' 2005)  
06 Flawed (single 2006) 
07 Never Fades Away (b-side of 'Flawed' 2006)
08 Together We Are One (single 2006)
09 Take Me Home (b-side of 'In This Life' 2007)   
10 Fortune And Love (b-side of 'Believe Again' 2007) 
11 Unsure (b-side of 'Believe Again' 2007)  
12 Fever (b-side of 'Believe Again' 2007) 
13 Breathe In, Breathe Out (bonus track on Japanese edition of 'Delta' 2007)

Disc III - 2008-2014
01 Black Velvet (b-side of 'You Will Only Break My Heart' 2008)  
02 Burn For You (b-side of 'I Can't Break It To My Heart' 2008) 
03 Edge Of Seventeen (b-side of 'I Can't Break It To My Heart' 2008) 
04 I'm Not Ready (solo version of the Michael Bolton duet single 2011) 
05 Uncovered (b-side of 'Sitting On Top Of The World' 2012)  
06 Waiting Forever (b-side of 'Dancing With A Broken Heart' 2012)  
07 Rise (b-side of 'Wish You Were Here' 2012)  
08 Daughter (b-side of 'Wish You Were Here' 2012)  
09 Alcohol (bonus track on the iTunes edition of 'Child Of The Universe' 2012)
10 No Communication (bonus track on the iTunes edition of 'Child Of The Universe' 2012)
11 Heart Hypnotic (single 2013)
12 Stay (b-side of 'Love...Thy Will Be Done' 2014)

Jentina - Do Not Disturb (2005)

Jentina Rose Rees (née Chapman) was born 6 March 1984 in Woking, England to a Romani family that consisted of fourteen children. When she was one year old, her family moved to West Molesey, Surrey, and she got her first recording contract at the age of nineteen, whilst working in a computer shop. After an advertising campaign on television, and features in various UK music magazines, her debut single 'Bad Ass Strippa' was released in the summer of 2004, reaching number 22 in the UK Singles Chart. Her second single was released in the autumn of 2004, with 'French Kisses' being co-written by Jentina along with Cathy Dennis and Greg Wells. It was a more electro-hop/R&B-oriented song, and entered the UK chart at number 20, after which she released one more single, although 'Mysterious' was only available in Italy, where it reached the Top 30 in the Italian charts. As a result of this success in Italy, her debut album 'Jentina' was released solely in that country. In 2005, 'Bad Ass Strippa', 'French Kisses' and 'Mysterious' gained worldwide exposure after featuring in episodes of 'CSI: NY', while in 2006 'Mysterious' underscored some of the audition stages of MTV's 'DanceLife'. Jentina was also a professional model, representing lingerie brand Wonderbra in November 2007, following on from the likes of Eva Herzigová and Caprice, and during 2011 she was in the judging panel for 'Travellers Got Talent'. She never did any more recording, and so the re-named 'Do Not Disturb' is the only record of her musical career, and even that is now extremely hard to locate, so here is your chance to hear her one and only album.

Track listing

01 Mysterious  
02 Bad Ass Strippa  
03 Wonderfoul Day  
04 French Kisses  
05 Feels Good 
06 Gone  
07 Here I Come 
08 Sneakers  
09 Eenie Meenie  
10 Smoke 
11 Baby  
12 Hard Times

Fundisha - Lessons (2002)

Fundisha Johnson is an American R&B singer, who started her musical career back in 1998 as background singer for artists such as Lauryn Hill, Tyrese, Lil Bow Wow, Fabolous and Jermaine Dupri. In 2002 she began releasing her own records, with 'Live The Life' becoming a minor R&B hit as the lead single from her first album 'Lessons'. The album was originally scheduled to be released on 18 June 2002 but was cancelled shortly after her label So So Def merged with Arista Records, resulting in a large number of releases being shelved. She never get to release an album, and leaves just one single of her own and a few collaborations as her legacy. It could have been so different if this album had actually been released, so here it is for you to check out. 

Track listing

01 Intro 
02 You Make Me
03 Black
04 Never Taught, Never Told
05 Party Joint
06 Gotta Be Me
07 Married Man
08 Live The Life
09 Wanna Be Intro
10 Wanna Be
11 Commitment Interlude
12 Pull A Left Eye
13 Daddy
14 Lessons
15 Don't Judge Me

Adina Howard - Welcome To Fantasy Island (1997)

Adina Marie Howard-Walker was born on 14 November 1973 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and raised by her mother, with the family later moving to Phoenix, Arizona. In the mid-1990's she gained the attention of manager-producer Livio Harris, who helped her record some demos and later land a deal with Max Gousse through Mecca Don/EastWest Records. Her debut album 'Do You Wanna Ride?' was released in 1995, and included the Platinum-certified hit single, 'Freak Like Me', alongside her follow-up singles 'My Up And Down' and 'It's All About You'. She spent 1996 recording a number of songs which appeared on film soundtracks, including 'What's Love Got To Do With It' from 'Police Story 3: Super Cop', 'Damned If I Do' from 'A Thin Line Between Love And Hate', and 'For The Funk' from 'Sunset Park'. In 1997 she recorded her second album 'Welcome To Fantasy Island' (originally titled 'Portrait Of A Lady'), and advance copies garnered rave reviews and a moderate hit with the lead single '(Freak) And U Know It', but Elektra Records were not convinced and cancelled its release. The album was leaked to the internet a few years later, with promotional copies selling for hundreds of dollars, and one of the unreleased tracks, 'T-Shirt & Panties' (a collaboration with Jamie Foxx) ended up on a film soundtrack the following year, with it originally being slated for the soundtrack to the film 'Booty Call', but eventually ending up on the soundtrack to the 1998 comedy 'Woo'. Another soundtrack appearance occurred the same year, with a collaboration with Cydal on a 'Chocolate (Cuties & Condoms)' being released as a single for the 'Bulletproof' soundtrack. In 2004 Howard released her official second album 'The Second Coming' on Rufftown Records, but it sold poorly due to lack of promotion and only 40,000 copies made it to store shelves, and she was later sued by the label. 

A second single '(Outside) The Club' was slated to be released, along with a remix album 'The Second Coming: Remixed & UnCut', but they suffered the same fate as 'Welcome To Fantasy Island', with both releases being cancelled following her departure from the label. Her third album 'Private Show' fared no better, being delayed many times by Arsenal Records, almost to the point of it being shelved, but it was eventually released in June 2007, along with a promotional single 'Picture This'. The album only sold 4,000+ copies though, and a third single, following a remixes EP for 'My Hips', was to have been 'Tease', but Howard parted ways with the label shortly after the album's release, and the single was cancelled. Howard's career has been bedevilled by a lack of support from her record companies, and she had more potential releases cancelled than any other artist that I know of. To date, Howard remains proud of the album and its cover, and in June 2018 a promo single surfaced for 'Crank Me Up', which was revealed to have been in consideration as a single by Elektra Records. In 2013 it received an unofficial release (excluding 'T-Shirt & Panties' and 'Crank Me Up', which were included on her 'The Second Coming' release) through the mixtape site DatPiff.com, and in 2021 it was announced that Rhino Records had acquired the rights to the album, with it finally being released onto digital audio platforms on 19 February 2021, although physical formats remain unavailable. Although the record is now out there, it took 24 years to finally appear, and as you can't buy a vinyl or CD copy of it I'm posting it anyway, as an album that we'd wished existed for nearly a quarter of a century. 

Track listing

01 Welcome To My Queendom (Intro)
02 (Freak) And U Know It
03 Personal Freak
04 All About U
05 Crank Me Up
06 Sexual Needs
07 Could've Got Away
08 Another Level (Interlude)
09 T-Shirt & Panties
10 I'll Be Damn If I Apologize
11 Don't Come Too Fast
12 Take Me Home
13 Lay Him Down
14 Ain't No Need
15 Satisfied (Outro)

Stacie Orrico - Say It Again (2002)

Stacie Joy Orrico was born on 3 March 1986 in Seattle, Washington, and grew up influenced by a wide range of musical styles, becoming a member in the church choir where she often accompanied on the piano as the family sang Christian hymns. She got her start in music at the age of 12, by attending a Christian music festival, Praise in the Rockies, held in her then-home state of Colorado. Orrico inadvertently entered a high-stakes talent competition, where she won, and a ForeFront Records executive was on hand and approached her for a record deal. She later signed with them, and in 2001 she toured with Destiny's Child as their opening act on select dates of their Survivor tour in the United States. She recorded her first album when she was just 14 years old, and 'Genuine' was released in 2000, selling over 13,000 copies in the first week, the highest debut week sales ever for a female Christian artist. The album produced the hit single 'Don't Look At Me', which topped Christian charts for ten consecutive weeks, and all five singles from it went top ten in the charts. In 2001 she released a Christmas EP, consisting of six tracks made up of a mix of Christmas songs and carols. In 2002 she started recording her next album, which was intended to be a more mainstream record, titled 'Say It Again'. A track listing was put together and promo CD's distributed, before it was decided to scrap the album and start again. The songs 'Truth', 'Until I Find You', the cover of Billy Preston's 'That's The Way (God Planned It)', and 'Star Of My Story' were dropped and replaced with new recordings, and the ones which were kept were significantly different. The spoken intro to 'Bounce Back' was removed from the single version, 'Maybe I Won't Look Back' has a slightly different track from what would eventually be released, including the bridge being performed as a rap verse by Orrico, and 'Security' contained a rap verse from an uncredited Mat Kearney that was omitted from the released version. A couple of the scrapped tracks were later included on some Japanese editions of her album, while others have remained unreleased. The revamped 'Stacie Orrico' album was released in 2003, and charted in the US, the UK, and Australia, and the first mainstream single from this album was 'Stuck', which became a worldwide hit, reaching the Top 5 on the majority of the world's charts, followed by '(There's Gotta Be) More To Life', which reached number 12 in the UK. For any fans who are interested in hearing the album as it was originally intended, then here is 2002's 'Say It Again', the precursor to 2003's 'Stacie Orrico'. 

Track listing

01 Tight
02 Hesitation
03 Bounce Back
04 That's What Love's About
05 Truth
06 Intil I Find You
07 Maybe I Won't Look Back
08 That's The Way (God Planned It)
09 Star Of My Story
10 Security (feat. Mat Kearney)

Rosie Ribbons - Misbehaving (2002)

Rosemary "Rosie" Ribbons was born on 22 July 1983 in Australia, with the family moving to Pontardawe near Swansea in 1987. Ribbons reportedly wanted to be a pop singer since she was eight years old, and was a big fan of Mariah Carey, who she learned to mimic in her singing, and she also started to write her own songs. During her final school year she lost interest, however, and ended up working in a supermarket, and it was when she was bored with that career that she auditioned for ITV1's talent show Pop Idol. She initially performed her own composition called 'Colours' to judges Simon Cowell, Nicki Chapman, Neil Fox and record producer Pete Waterman, and although impressed with her vocal, Cowell suggested that she pick a more familiar song. Taking his advice, Ribbons then wowed the panel with a rendition of 'Hero' by Mariah Carey, a performance that moved Waterman to tears. Ribbons progressed through the competition and made the top 50, winning her heat by a landslide, but although she was named amongst the favourites to win, she was voted out by viewers a few weeks before Will Young was crowned winner on 9 February 2002, ultimately finishing in 6th place. Although Ribbons did not win Pop Idol, Telstar Records signed her to a five-album deal, reportedly worth £1million, and after supporting Liberty X on tour, her first two singles 'Blink' and her cover of Jessica Simpson's 'A Little Bit' were both UK top 20 hits. 

However, as 'A Little Bit' only reached number 19, Telstar considered this a disappointing chart position, and so they went to work on getting ready to release the third single only a few weeks later. Initially they had chosen 'Good Thing' before deciding on a double A Side, featuring 'Good Thing' and 'Heaven', but after Ribbons had supported Blue on their 'One Love' Tour Telstar decided that a totally fresh, new track had to be released, and they wanted something that was guaranteed to succeed. They therefore put Ribbons back in the studio to record a modern-day remake of the Deee-Lite hit 'Groove Is In The Heart', at one point considering making it a double A-side with 'Naked'. Before any of this could happen, Telstar experienced financial problems and her contract was subsequently terminated before the third single or her album could be released. Originally to be called 'Levitate', promo copies titled 'Misbehaving' did surface under the title 'Misbehaving'. In 2007, now living in Dubbo, Australia, Ribbons auditioned for Australian Idol with another original song, 'Butterfly Wings', but this time the judges did not ask for a second, more familiar song, and she was accepted into the Top 100, and then went on to make the Top 24. In the fourth semi-finals on 29 August 2007 Ribbons sang R.E.M.'s 'Everybody Hurts', but she didn't make the final 12, and so was eliminated from the competition. Ribbons returned to the UK after Australian Idol to perform and record new music, and in March 2012 she was the featured vocalist on the title track of the Alonestar EP 'Warrior', a release which also featured Ed Sheeran, who accompanies Ribbons on the track 'All Falls Down'. Telstar's back catalogue was eventually acquired by Phoenix Music International in 2018, and the album acquired a digital release, but no physical copies followed, and so here is that original 2002 debut by the Pop Idol finalist.   

Track listing

01 Good Thing
02 A Little Bit
03 Blink
04 Deadly Sin 
05 Heaven
06 Coming Up for Air
07 Trusted
08 No Space to Rent
09 Even Angels
10 Ain't That the Way
11 Colours

Brooke Valentine - Physical Education (2009)

Kanesha Nichole Brookes was born on 5 October 1984 in Houston, Texas, and is better known by her stage name Brooke Valentine. She started her career as a member of the female group Best Kept Secret, but after leaving them, she moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a solo career, linking up with producer and Subliminal Entertainment CEO Deja the Great, and signing to Virgin Records. Her first single was 'Girlfight', featuring Lil Jon and Big Boi, which was a surprise hit, peaking at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also succeeded internationally, breaking the Top 50 in Australia and Ireland, and Top 40 in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. She then released her debut album 'Chain Letter' in 2005, which debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200, and she followed this with another single, with 'Long As You Come Home'. After a collaboration with rappers Fabolous and Yo Yo on the single 'Boogie Oogie Oogie' for the soundtrack to the 2005 film 'Roll Bounce', she started work on her second studio album, 'Physical Education'. The set's lead single 'D-Girl' featuring Pimp C was released later that year, followed by 'Pimped Out' featuring Dem Franchize Boyz, but neither really caught the attention of the public. In 2008 Virgin Records merged with Capitol Records, and many albums were put on hold, including 'Physical Education'. Subliminal Entertainment CEO Deja the Great then acquired the masters and the contract rights from Virgin Records, and material from the project was released independently on the Physical Education Mixtape in 2009. Following this disappontment, Valentine took a break from music, during which time time she gave birth to her first child, a son named London. She did eventually return to the music business with her 2013 EP 'Love Letters', which was released to a positive response, but this post is about that cancelled release, and so here is what would have been her second studio album in 2009. 

Track listing

01 Pimped Out (feat. Chamillionaire)
02 Make It Drop
03 Do Me Shorts
04 Cars (feat. Wifyi)
05 Gold Diggin
06 South Side (feat. The Great)
07 Dr. Do Right
08 Thug Passion
09 Ghettolicious

Amari - Sunshine (1998)

Amari was an R&B group who were signed to Tommy Boy/Elektra Records in the 1990's, featuring members Sneezy, Sheri and Pooh. They released their debut single in 1998, with 'Callin' (Will You Players Ever Learn?)' featuring on the soundtrack to the US comedy film 'Ride', and attracting some praise from Billboard magazine. They band recorded an album for Tommy Boy in 1998, and a second single was extracted from it, with 'Get Down With Me' also featuring on a film soundtrack, this time for the 1997 thriller 'Nothing To Lose'. Their 'Sunshine' album was due to be released in July 1998, but it seems that the limited success of the singles meant that the record company lost faith in the group, and the album was shelved, but we can still enjoy it for the fun R&B/rap album that it is.  

Track listing

01 Callin' (Will You Players Ever Learn?)
02 You're All I Need (feat. Lost Boyz)
03 Would You Mind
04 What You Gonna Do 
05 Sunshine
06 Funk You Up
07 I Don't Mind
08 Loddi Doddi
09 I Like It
10 I've Heard That Shit Before
11 Get Down With Me (feat. Buckshot)
12 My Own Thing
13 Be Out
14 I See No Reason (feat. Mtume)
15 I Got Love On My Mind

Jazmine Sullivan - Break My Little Heart (2004)

Jazmine Marie Sullivan was born on 9 April 1987 in Philadelphia, and her mother was a former backup singer for Philadelphia International Records. She began singing as a contralto in the children's choir, and later in the adult choir, and so her exposure to secular music was initially limited, but despite this she signed a record deal with Jive Records at aged 15, and while there she provided vocals for Kindred The Family Soul's song, 'I Am', as well as background vocals on the song 'Party's Over', and the title track to their 2003 debut 'Surrender To Love'. During these sessions she first met rapper Missy Elliott, who went on to produce the majority of the songs on Sullivan's debut album, which was recorded for Jive, although she did work with producers Cool & Dre on a song titled 'Say I', which was later given to Dre's then-girlfriend Christina Milian for her third album, 'So Amazin''. As well as being produced by Missy Elliott, Sullivan's debut album, 'Break My Little Heart', was to have included vocal arrangements and beat-making credits from the likes of Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Kev Brown, Cool & Dre, Tweet and Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry, and would be heralded by the Missy Elliott-produced title track serving as the lead single. However, due to lack of promotion and the single falling silent via radio, the album was ultimately shelved, with some of the content intended to be retooled and considered for her official first album 'Fearless', which was released on J Records in 2008. However, in the end only one track survived, with just 'In Love With Another Man' appearing on 'Fearless', meaning that there was a full album of recordings which were scrapped, and have since remained unheard. Sullivan's breakthrough song was 'Need U Bad', which was released in May 2008, and which topped the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs for 34 weeks, leading to the release of the 'Fearless' album in September 2008, and the start of a relatively successful career over the following 15 years. However, the music from that shelved album has remained unheard for many years, and so now is the time to bring it out and to hear what could have been Jazmine Sullivan's debut album in 2004.

Track listing

01 Music, Part 1 (feat. Floetry) 
02 Say I (feat. Dre of Cool & Dre) 
03 Break My Little Heart (feat. Missy Elliott) 
04 Season 2 Love 
05 Where Did He Go? (feat. Missy Elliott & Tweet) 
06 Feel Nice (feat. Missy Elliott)
07 Lovin' You 
08 Backstabbers (Brush Ur Shoulders Off) (feat. Missy Elliott) 
09 Don’t Let Me Get Started (feat. Missy Elliott) 
10 Braid Your Hair
11 The Club
12 Who Said (feat. Cassidy) 
13 Always Have Jazmine 
14 Music, Part 2 (My First Love Mix) 

Sunday - Whitney Houston Presents Sunday (2000)

Sunday were a R&B quintet from New Jersey, comprised of five girls aged between 18 and 22. Three sisters, Tawanda, Notasha, and Tiffany, were joined by their two cousins, Shakira and Stacey to form a group very much in the style of Destiny's or En Vogue, but with their gospel roots setting them apart. The quintet started singing together at the New Life Deliverance Church in Newark where their maternal grandmother was a pastor for 23 years, and they caught the eye of Robyn Crawford, a long-time associate of Whitney Houston, who signed them to a record deal. They recorded their self-titled debut album in 2000, which was executive-produced by Houston and Crawford, and it was led by the single 'I Know', which underperformed on the Billboard Hot 100, barely cracking at #98, but managed to fare better on the R&B/Hip-Hop aspect, peaking at number 32. However, this was not enough to prevent the album from getting canned by Capitol Records and Houston's label Better Place Records, and so it remains unreleased to this day. Like so many of these shelved albums, there is much to enjoy on here, and so here is what could have been the start of a promising career for these Whitney Houston protégées. 

Track listing

01 I'm Takin' Your Man 
02 Me For Me
03 Somebody Else
04 Fed Up 
05 Make It Hot
06 All Of A Sudden
07 I Know 
08 What Am I Gonna Do?
09 Alone
10 Everything's Alright
11 Believe In Love (feat. Whitney Houston)

Jhené Aiko - 3:16AM (2012)

Returning to music after completing her education, Jhené Aiko released a mixtape titled 'Sailing Soul(s)' in March 2011, which was made available via her official website, JheneAiko.com. All the songs on the mixtape were written by her, except for 'July', and it featured collaborations with Miguel, Drake and Kanye West, among others. To promote the mixtape Aiko was joined by R&B singer Miguel on a one off free secret performance on Sunday, 15 July 2011, and in October she released music videos for two of the songs from the mixtape, 'My Mine' and 'Stranger'. In 2011 she also began working closely with artists from Carson-based independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment such as Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, and the latter was featured on her 'Sail Out' EP, which was released in November 2013. Before that, however, in 2012, she met with No I.D., record producer and vice president of A&R at Def Jam, who ended up signing Aiko to his Artium Records imprint through Def Jam. Her first release on the label was '3:16AM', which was made available for digital download on iTunes in September 2012, and which was the first single from the forthcoming 'Sail Out' EP. The EP was released in November 2013, and debuted at number eight on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 34,000 copies. In June 2014, 'To Love & Die' was released for digital download as her forthcoming album's lead single, but she had in fact recorded another albums worth of material while in the studio for the 'Sail Out' sessions, and so before the release of her actual debut record 'Souled Out' in 2014, she could have issued the '3:16AM' album in 2012, and so as she didn't do that then we'll just have to do it for her. 

Track listing

01 3:16AM
02 2 Seconds
03 Comfort Inn Ending
04 For My Brother
05 I'd Rather Be
06 I'm Back
07 Keep Ya Head Up
08 Snapped
09 Everything Must Go
10 In Love We Trust
11 Wait No More
12 Burning Man (3:16PM)

Jhené Aiko - My Name Is Jhené (2003)

Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo was born on 16 March 1988 in Los Angeles, California, but the family moved to Baldwin Hills when their home burned down when she was seven. She embarked on her musical career contributing vocals to several B2K releases, as well as performing on a song on the soundtrack of the 2002 film 'The Master Of Disguise'. During this time she was known as the cousin of B2K's rapper, Lil' Fizz, though she is not actually related to him, and it was actually a marketing tool suggested by her labels Sony, The Ultimate Group and Epic Records, to promote her through B2K and attract an audience. She also appeared in numerous music videos including O'Ryan's debut video 'Take It Slow', B2K's debut video 'Uh Huh', and Morgan Smith's 2004 video 'Blow Ya Whistle', as well as having songs featured on the soundtracks of 'Barbershop', 'You Got Served', 'The Proud Family', and 'Byou'. In 2003, when she was just 15 years old, she released a video for her single 'No L.O.V.E', and she was set to release her debut album, then-titled 'My Name Is Jhené', later that year, but it was never released due to tension at the record label Epic, which ultimately led to Aiko asking to be released from her contract. Once the labels agreed to her request she went back to school to continue her education, and it was to be four years before she made a return to music in 2007, and another four before she released any new music. By this time her cancelled album was behind her, as she was now 23 years old, and a record made when she was 15 would not be an accurate representation of her music, but it's certainly a fine example of her early work, and so here it is for you to hear.

Track listing

01 My Name Is Jhené
02 Pain
03 No L.O.V.E.
04 Boy
05 What I Need
06 Down 4 U, Part II (feat. Lil' Fizz)
07 Won't Play The Game
08 Cherry Pie (Interlude)
09 Angel
10 Wanna Be
11 Deja Vu
12 Don't Walk Away
13 You Got Nerve
14 Dog (feat. Lil' Fizz)
15 Promise Ring
16 Rowdy
17 You Don't Know (feat. Needa S.)

Tweet - Love, Tweet (2008)

Charlene Keys was born on 21 January 1971), and is better known by the stage name Tweet. In the early 90's she Tweet joined the female trio Sugah, which comprised Tweet, Susan Weems, and Rolita White, and they were part of Devante Swing's Swing Mob collective. While there, she met Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, with whom she formed a close friendship' leading to her appearing on Missy Elliott's platinum-selling third album, 'Miss E... So Addictive', being featured on one track and providing background vocals to another four. In March 2002 she released her debut solo single, 'Oops (Oh My)', which was produced by Timbaland and features guest vocals by Missy Elliott, and which hit number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. In April 2002, Tweet released her debut album Southern 'Hummingbird', which featured Missy Elliott, Bilal, and Ms. Jade, and it reached number three on the Billboard 200 chart. In 2002 she appeared as a guest vocalist on a number of albums, including those from Trina, Meshell Ndegeocello, Karen Clark Sheard, Ms. Jade, and Whitney Houston. This continued throughout 2003, with appearance on records by Madonna, Monica, and Mark Ronson, and she also began recording songs for her follow-up to 'Southern Hummingbird'. The album was supposed to be released in early 2004, but was pushed back when Tweet moved from Elektra Entertainment Group to Atlantic Records, but she did release the single 'Turn Da Lights Off' that year, which was produced by Missy Elliott and Kwamé. In March 2005 her second album appeared, and 'It's Me Again' peaked at #17 on the Billboard album charts, before quickly falling out of the charts. 

She then broke away from her manager, Mona Scott, and Violator Management, and signed with Mathew Knowles of Music World, leading to her departing from Missy Elliott's Goldmind Inc. camp and signing to Jheryl Busby and Mike City's record label, Umbrella Recordings. There, she began recording material for her third album, along with producers Nisan Stewart, Warryn Campbell and Novel. Initially titled 'Love, Tweet', the album was preceded by the buzz single 'Good Bye My Dear', a collaboration with rapper T.I., it was expected to be released on 8 April 2008. The release of lead single 'Anymore' failed to materialize, however, and after a couple of years she grew tired of Umbrella's lack of promotion and ongoing delays to her releases, and so she left them and signed to MC Lyte's record label DuBose Music Group. In June 2012 she began posting previously unreleased material from the 'It's Me Again' and 'Love, Tweet' recording sessions on her new website, as a part of her weekly SoundCloud-hosted special, Tweet Tuesdays, and in 2013 DuBose did finally release her 'Simply Tweet' EP, which was recorded live with a full band. In July 2015, Tweet confirmed that she had signed with the independent eOne Music label, and her third album 'Charlene', was released in 2016, confirming that 'Love, Tweet' would never appear. This post is therefore made up of the tracks that she posted from both of her early album sessions, most of which would probably have appeared on the 'Love, Tweet' album, had it appeared in 2008 as intended. 

Track listing

01 I Just Wanna  
02 Remedy 
03 Everything  
04 Cruisin' 
05 Alone 
06 Trouble  
07 Anymore 
08 Love Again 
09 My Dear (feat. T.I.) 
10 I Admit It  
11 Real Lady 
12 Can't Live Without You (feat. Novel)  
13 See Ya
14 Whisper
15 Give It To Ya  

Stooshe - Stooshe (2012)

Stooshe was formed in May 2010 and signed to Warner Music in August 2011, with the original concept being to create an urban and soulful Spice Girls. Alexandra Buggs, Karis Anderson and Courtney Rumbold formed following a series of auditions and scouting in Topshop stores over a nine-month period., and using tracks from writing/production duo Future Cut, the group spent the next twelve months developing their look and sound. Anderson said the band's name originates from the word 'stoosh', which is urban slang for something expensive, a girl who thinks she's nicer than she is, or being stoned, and they then added 'she' on the end to represent female empowerment. The group released their first song, 'Fuck Me', on YouTube on 14 March 2011, originally featuring rapper Suave Debonair, and it was subsequently re-recorded under the title 'Love Me' with Travie McCoy for official release in 2012. A second single, 'Betty Woz Gone', was released onto iTunes on 28 October 2011, earning placement on BBC Radio 1's In New Music We Trust playlist, and follwing that, 'Love Me' was released as the lead single from their debut album. This was initially to be titled 'Swings And Roundabouts', and a release date was set for 25 June 2012, however, Stooshe later announced the album would be self-titled and would be released on 26 November 2012. 'Love Me' marked the group's first chart appearance, reaching at number five on the UK Singles Chart, and the next single 'Black Heart' did even better peaking at number three on the UK chart. It was announced in June 2012 that the group would be supporting American rapper Nicki Minaj on the UK leg of the Pink Friday Tour, followed by a support slot for Jennifer Lopez on a part of the European leg of the Dance Again World Tour. On 15 November, it was reported that the album's release would be delayed until March 2013 after their cover of TLC classic nineties track 'Waterfalls' failed to chart in the Top 20. However, the band later revealed that they delayed the release of the album themselves, to undo their record label's interference. Anderson stated "It was down to us that our album didn't come out months ago. It was ready to go, but we was listening to it and realised the label had changed a few mixes, a few structures and even taken off a few songs. We made this album before we got signed so it was important for us to still have control." The album was finally released on 27 May 2013, under the title 'London With The Lights On', but in Autumn 2013 the band split from their record label due to the disagreements over 'London With The Lights On', which received mixed reviews in the press. If you are interested in hearing the original version of the album, which included just eleven tracks from the released one, then here it is, including the 'Waterfalls' single which was later disowned by the group. 

Track listing

01 Black Heart
02 See Me Like This
03 Your Own Kind Of Beautiful
04 Waterfalls
05 Love Me (feat. Travie McCoy)
06 Perfectly Wrong
07 My Man Music
08 Kiss Chase
09 Jimmy
10 Turning On Me
11 Ain't No Other Me

TG4 - Time For The New (2002)

TG4 was an American R&B female quartet, consisting of Keisha Henry, Davida Williams, Sevyn Streeter (aka Ambee), and Ashley Gallo. The group was assembled by Chris Strokes and was signed to T.U.G. Entertainment, where Stokes served as their manager. He offered Streeter the first spot in the T.U.G./A&M group after she opened for B2K and IMX at a concert in Orlando, Florida in early 2001. Davida, Ashley, and Keisha fell in line after a string of successful auditions, and the name TG4 is short for Tom Girls 4. The group's only major single was 'Virginity', which peaked at number 88 on the US Billboard R&B chart in 2002, as their second single, '2 Minutes', failed to chart on any Billboard chart, and after the group parted ways with their original label, their album, 'Time For The New', was shelved indefinitely. Williams left the band to focus on her acting career, and the remaining members renamed themselves Tomgirls 4 Eva, and they were signed to the Soul Chemistry label, although they didn't stay together for long, and disbanded shortly afterwards. Streeter signed a deal with Jive Records and the RichCraft label in 2007 as a member of Rich Harrison's girl group, RichGirl, and although the group did not release a full album, work on a self-titled debut had begun in 2009, with a planned release in 2010 or 2011. As a precursor to that cancelled RichGirl album, here is what could have been TG4's debut release from 2002. 

Track listing

01 Intro 
02 Can't Trust A Friend (feat. Needa S)
03 Zip it Up (feat. Needa S)
04 Virginity
05 Pop The Question
06 Busted
07 Sweat
08 Way Gone
09 Two Minutes
10 My Pillow
11 Best Friends
12 Secretly

Yo Yo - Ebony (1998)

Yo Yo (born Yolanda Whitaker on August 4, 1971 in Los Angeles, California) is a female hip-hop artist and actress who is a protege of rapper Ice Cube, making her first appearance on record in 1990, when she guested on Ice Cube's album 'AmeriKKA’s Most Wanted'. on the track 'It’s A Man’s World'. A year later in 1991, Yo Yo released her debut single 'You Can’t Play With My Yo-Yo' (featuring Ice Cube) which peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and in March she released her debut album 'Make Way For The Motherlode' on EastWest Records, which peaked at number 74 on the Billboard 200 and which was a critical success. The follow-up single, 'Ain't Nobody Better', spent eleven weeks on the charts, and the final single from the album, 'Stompin' In the '90s' peaked at number 2 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Singles chart. During that same year she made her acting debut in the film 'Boyz In The Hood', and in June 1992 she dropped her second album 'Black Pearl', which peaked at number 145 on the Billboard 200. 1993 was a busy one for her acting career as she starred in films such as 'Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit', 'Menace II Society', 'Strapped' and 'Who’s The Man?', as well as releasing her third album 'You Better Ask Somebody'. The lead single 'The Bonnie And Clyde Theme' topped Billboard’s Hot Rap Singles chart, and was followed by 'Westside Story' and 'IBwin’ Wit My CREWin'', although neither reached the same heights as the first single. After that Yo Yo’s music career took a backseat as she focused on her acting career, securing a recurring role on the '90's comedy series 'Martin', as well as appearing on the FOX Network television drama 'New York Undercover', and in the 1995 film 'Panther'. 

In 1994 she signed a deal with Warner Bros. television to produce a sitcom called 'Shifting Gears', but the series was never picked up, and so she returned to music and two years later she released her fourth studio album 'Total Control', which didn't generate as much success as her previous records, and the two singles from it didn’t make the charts at all. After a lawsuit for an uncleared sample on the album, it was pulled from the shelves. Her acting career continued with appearances in the 1997 films 'Sprung' and 'Trials Of Life', while at the same time recording tracks for her fifth studio album 'Ebony', which was due to be released in September 1998, but it ended up being shelved because the guest appearances on it weren't properly contracted to work with an artist on EastWest Records. She was later released from her record contract, and so concentrated on her acting career, although after 2000 not much was heard from her until 2004, when she did voice work on the video game 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'. In 2005 she returned to the music business with a mix-tape remix of R&B singer Ciara's single 'Goodies' and rapper The Game's single 'How We Do', but 'Ebony' has stubbornly refused to appear, and so here it is so that we can hear what would have been the rapper's final album. 

Track listing

01 Intro
02 Countin' Money (feat. Lil Shawn)
03 Do You Wanna Ride? (feat. Kelly Price)
04 Iz It Still All Good? (feat. Gerald Levert)
05 Get Up And Do Your Thing
06 Never Gonna Fall Again
07 Fantasy (feat. Lil Shawn)
08 Let Me Be The One
09 Good Girl
10 I Would If I Could (feat. Missy Elliott)
11 Pass It On (Part 2) (feat. Lady T, Big Chan, Nic-Nak, And Shorty G)

Canela Cox - Canela (2001)

Canela Cox was born in 1984 in Los Angeles, California, moving to Amsterdam at the age of 12, where her mother, Rocq-E Harrell, a former Diana Ross' background vocalist, performed as an R&B singer and recording artist. Upon moving back to the United States at age 18, Cox continued to pursue her musical endeavours, performing with numerous musical groups throughout Los Angeles. In 2000 she was featured on Jennifer Lopez's multi-platinum selling single, 'Love Don't Cost A Thing', and although she was uncredited for her work on the song, she performed as Lopez's background vocalist for numerous tours and new songs. While performing with Lopez at a Los Angeles concert, her talent was recognized by Rodney Jerkins, who brought her to DreamWorks Records' attention, and was immediately signed to the label in 2001. She began to record her self-titled debut album, which featured production by Darkchild, Tim & Bob, Lil' Mo, Fred Jerkins III, Brycyn Evans, & DJ Clue, and DreamWorks announced at the time that it would be released sometime in December 2001. Her buzz single, 'Sponsor', was released to radio in March 2001, and a DJ Clue remix, featuring Fabolous, was also released to mixtape circuits, and it received heavy underground play. Despite this media onslaught, both versions of the single failed to chart, and so a new Darkchild-produced single, 'Everything', was released to radio as the official lead single from the album. However, 'Everything' suffered the same fate as 'Sponsor', and because of these two perceived failures, DreamWorks Records put a halt on the release of her album. Before the release date could be revisited, DreamWorks Records was bought by Universal Music Group, which caused the label to fold, and so her debut was permanently shelved. Some months after Cox left DreamWorks she co-wrote Anastacia's 2002 single 'Why'd You Lie To Me', and she was also the female vocalist on rapper Won G's 2004 single 'Caught Up In The Rapture', and then in 2004 she signed to Genuine Entertainment and began recording another album. Its buzz singles, 'Blazed' and 'Bedrock', were released through Monopoly Records in 2004, but neither single managed to chart, and because of a lack of promotion, and failed attempts to put out a single properly, she left Monopoly Records, and began singing and song-writing for other artists. In 2006 she joined pop band Anything But Monday, who featured in the reality show '30 Days 'til I'm Famous', but they too have yet to release a debut album, as this has also been  delayed several times. As she doesn't seem to have had much luck in getting a record of her own actually released, here is a chance for us to hear that abandoned debut. 

Track listing

01 Everything 
02 Sponsor (I Need I Need I Need)
03 Love, Lust, Crime
04 Friend Of Mine
05 I Can't Let Go 
06 Outta Here
07 Play Your Games
08 It Feels Just Right
09 1 Day
10 Trust Me

Nikki Flores - This Girl (2006)

Nikki Flores was born Brandi Nichole Flores on 17 October 1988, and began writing songs and performing at eight years old. Her parents, who are both musicians, built a home studio to allow her to perform, and at aged 16 she signed to Epic Records. She recorded her debut album for the label in 2005, and 'This Girl' was due to be released in late 2005/early 2006, but Epic pushed back the release date numerous times, until in 2009 she was eventually dropped by the label. No singles were released from the album, but it did include 'Strike', which was written and produced by Ryan Tedder, and she collaborated with producer Brian Kennedy for a song entitled 'Let It Slide', which she uploaded to her Myspace page, receivinh over 19 million views and reaching No. 1 on the Myspace Top 100 charts. In 2010 she signed to Ryan Tedder's Patriot Records, but they soon parted ways, and from then on she concentrated on writing for other artists, co-writing and being featured on 'Roses' by Nas, and contributing lyrics and melodies to 'Coolin'' by Mýa, 'Empty Words' by Christina Aguilera, and 'One Bad Night', 'Palace', and 'Sleepover' by Hayley Kiyoko, as well as having multiple collaborations with JoJo. To get an idea of her song-writing ability, here is her cancelled 'This Girl' album from 2006. 

Track listing

01 Let It Slide
02 Painkiller (feat. Hitmaka)
03 This Girl
04 Suffocate
05 I Wanna Know You Like That 
06 Selfish
07 Beautiful Boy
08 Anyone Can Say 
09 I Got You 
10 Love (What You Do To Me) (feat. Novel)
11 Strike
12 Regret #99 
13 It's OK
14 Insecure
15 Could You Ever Love Me That Way

Livvi Franc - Underground Sunshine (2008)

Olivia Charlotte Waithe was born on 31 May 1988 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and her stage name of Franc was inspired by her late maternal grandfather, Frank Wilson. Her first manager discovered her after hearing one of her cassette tape demos, and arranged for her to record proper demos in studios in Barbados and Miami, which is where she met her next manager. Soon after, she was in New York meeting label heads and auditioning, and she finally signed with Jive Records after months of negotiations. She was writing songs throughout these early years, with Jordin Sparks recording one of her songs, 'Walking On Snow', and she has also written for Cheryl Cole, Kelly Clarkson, Marié Digby, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Rihanna and Cher Lloyd. Her debut single, 'Now I'm That Bitch', was released in the summer of 2009, and topped the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart and became a top 40 hit in New Zealand and the UK. Another song, 'This Is A Raid' appeared on the reboot of 'Melrose Place', and an album was planned for release shortly afterwards, but this was delayed, and the next we heard from Franc was the release of her second single, 'Automatik' in 2010. Produced by RedOne, the single peaked at #6 on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart, but around the end of 2010 the album was shelved by Jive, and so Livvi left the label and quickly signed to Beluga Heights/Warner Bros., where she is currently working on her debut album, although she has stated that she is delaying work on it in order to focus on writing for other acts. As she no longer seems committed to releasing a record under her own name, here is the cancelled 'Underground Sunshine' album from 2008, with a couple of contemporary recordings added to replace songs that haven't yet leaked. 

Track listing

01 Free  
02 This Is A Raid 
03 Now I'm That Bitch
04 Hummingbird  
05 She Loves Love 
06 Summer Love  
07 Lovey Dovey  
08 Shiver 
09 Trick Or Treat  
10 Underground Sunshine  
11 Untouchable
12 Sweet Satisfaction  
13 Bliss

JoJo - Demonstrate (2012)

After posting both incarnations of JoJo's third album, firstly the 'All I Want Is Everything' version, followed by the 'Jumping Trains' one, you'd think that she's dumped enough songs to make her think twice about scrapping any more recordings that she'd spent so much time on, but that's where you'd be wrong. Even after compiling those two earlier albums, there were still over a dozen more out-takes left over, so here is one final album made up of songs recorded between 2008 and 2012 from the 'All I Want Is Everything'/'Jumping Trains' sessions, titled 'Demonstrate' after one of her early aborted singles.   

Track listing

01 Shot 'Em Dead
02 Headlight
03 No More Tears
04 Replaced
05 Beautiful Girls Reply
06 Demonstrate
07 Sweat
08 Hold On
09 Limbo
10 Wait A Minute (For Your Love)
11 Marvin's Room (Can't Do Better)
12 Can't Believe It
13 Uncharted (feat. Ray J)
14 Houstatlantavegas
15 What You Do
16 Fearless