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

JoJo - Jumping Trains (2012)

After spending 2008 and 2009 writing and recording songs for her 'All I Want Is Everything' album in Boston and Atlanta, JoJo suddenly announced in February 2011 that she'd changed the title of the record from 'All I Want Is Everything' to 'Jumping Trains'. A proposed single, 'The Other Chick', was withdrawn as she wanted to move forward and record new material, and so instead she released a re-interpretation of rapper Drake's song 'Marvin's Room', renamed 'Marvin's Room (Can't Do Better)', in June. She then scrapped just about everything that she'd recorded up to that point and started afresh on her third album. By 2012 she'd recorded about 20 new tracks, and she planned to release 'Demonstrate' as the lead single, but the commercial release of the single was cancelled, followed shortly by the album itself, due to the fact that so many tracks had leaked online. She then concentrated her efforts into recording tracks for a mixtape that she could release herself, and 'Agápē' appeared in November 2012, signing the death warrant for 'Jumping Trains'. The new material that she'd recorded for it went the same way as the 'All I Want Is Everything' tracks, consigned to the vaults, but hoarded by her fans when they stumbled on leaked songs. So here is the second incarnation of JoJo's third album, this time the 'Jumping Trains' version from 2012. 

Track listing

01 Cold Blooded
02 Who's Gonna Fight For Me
03 Last Heart Standing
04 I Don't Wanna Cry (feat. Josh Milan)
05 Elsewhere
06 Disaster
07 The Other Chick
08 Paper Airplanes
09 Beautiful Distraction
10 Besos
11 Jumping Trains
12 Safe With Me
13 Lie 2 Me
14 Play This Twice
15 Guardian Angel
16 Sexy To Me
17 Hollywood

JoJo - All I Want Is Everything (2009)

Joanna Noëlle Levesque was born on 20 December 1990, in Brattleboro, Vermont, but raised in Keene, New Hampshire, and Foxborough, Massachusetts. She started singing when she was two years old by imitating everything from nursery rhymes to R&B, jazz, and soul tunes. In 1999, she auditioned on the television show 'Destination Stardom', singing Aretha Franklin's 1967 hit 'Respect', and 'Chain Of Fools', and in 2001 she recorded a demo disc titled 'Joanna Levesque' which featured covers of soul and R&B songs. In mid-2003, she competed on the television show 'America's Most Talented Kid' (losing to Diana DeGarmo), but record producer Vincent Herbert contacted her and asked her to audition for Blackground Records, who signed her at age 12 to its imprint Da Family Entertainment, and she began working with producers for her first album. Adopting her childhood nickname JoJo, she released her debut single 'Leave (Get Out)' in 2004, and then embarked on her first tour, the Cingular Buddy Bash with pop rock singer Fefe Dobson, hip hop duo Young Gunz, rap rock band Zebrahead, and teen pop stars Ryan Cabrera and Busted. It stopped at nine malls, starting at Atlanta's Northlake Mall and ending at South Shore Plaza near her hometown of Foxborough. When the single reached number one on the Mainstream Top 40 chart, she became, at age thirteen, the youngest solo artist to have a number-one single in the United States. 

Her first album, the platinum-selling 'JoJo', was released in 2004, peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 and reaching the top forty of the UK Albums Chart. In December she was nominated for Female New Artist of the Year and Mainstream Top 40 Single of the Year at the Billboard Music Awards, becoming the youngest artist ever to be nominated at the awards. In 2005 she was offered a role on the Disney Channel television series 'Hannah Montana', but she turned down the role in favour of developing her music career, although she did accept the role of Hailey in the 2006 film 'Aquamarine', starring opposite Emma Roberts and Sara Paxton. Her second major film, 'RV', a comedy starring Robin Williams, was released in April 2006, and grossed $69.7 million. JoJo's second album, 'The High Road', was released on 17 October 2006 to mainly positive reviews, and it debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. Three singles were released from the album, with 'Too Little Too Late' having the biggest success, breaking the record for the biggest jump into the top three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, moving from number 66 to number three in one week. In late 2007 she stated that she would be writing songs for her third album, to be released when she turned 18, as she wanted her fans to see the growth in her music. Writing and recording continued in Boston and Atlanta throughout 2008 and early 2009, and in June she stated on her YouTube account that she was waiting for her record label to sign a distribution deal to release her album, which was to be titled 'All I Want Is Everything'. 

In August 2009 she filed a lawsuit against her record label for putting her in musical limbo, under which she sought $500,000 in damages, and to be released from her contract. In October she reached a deal with Blackground Records and her third album was to be distributed by Interscope Records, but before that, in September 2010, she released her first mixtape 'Can't Take That Away From Me', which spawned the single 'In the Dark'. In February 2011 she announced that she had changed the title of her third studio album from 'All I Want Is Everything' to 'Jumping Trains', but a proposed single, 'The Other Chick', was withdrawn as she had a desire to move forward with a promotional push for a different song. Following the recording of new material, she released a re-interpretation of rapper Drake's song 'Marvin's Room' in June 2011, renamed 'Marvin's Room (Can't Do Better)', which garnered appreciation from Drake himself. On 29 August 2011 'Disaster' was released to U.S. radio, and although she was praised for not 'jumping on the synthpop bandwagon', it only made the Billboard Hot 100 for a week, and failed to impact any chart internationally. Wanting to go in a new direction with her third studio album, she released 'Demonstrate' to radio on 17 July 2012 as the new lead single from 'Jumping Trains', but its commercial release was eventually scrapped, despite a music video having been filmed. 

After Blackground Records lost their distribution deal through Interscope Records in late 2012, resulting once again in the delay of the release of an album, JoJo began recording new material specifically for a new mixtape to be released by the end of the year, as she didn't want to keep the fans waiting for new music any longer. In November she announced the release of the 'Agápē' mixtape, which was made available for free download to celebrate her 22nd birthday, and that seemed to seal the fate of 'Jumping Trains', which was cancelled due to the number of tracks which had leaked online. In July 2013 she filed a lawsuit against her labels Blackground Records and Da Family for "irreparable damages to her professional career", claiming that her 2004 contract with the labels should have expired in 2011, as she was a minor when it was signed, and under New York State law, minors cannot sign contracts that last more than seven years. The lawsuit was settled out of court, and in January 2014 it was announced that she'd been released from Blackground Records, and had signed a new recording contract with Atlantic Records, under which she immediately released the three track EP '#LoveJo'. She finally released her third album 'Mad Love' in 2016, but it was an extremely long and convoluted gestation, with around three dozen songs being junked along the way. To fill this major gap in her discography, here is a reconstruction of the first incarnation of that proposed third album 'All I Want Is Everything'. 

Track listing

01 Back Words 
02 Impossible To Love
03 25 To Life 
04 Keep Forgetting (To Forget About You)
05 Numbers 
06 Something In The Water 
07 Doorway To My Dreams (Fly Away) 
08 How You Did It 
09 My Heart Never Had A Hero 
10 I Hate Love 
11 Wrong Man For The Job 
12 Touch Down (Flippers Up) 
13 Underneath 
14 Forever In My Life 
15 You Take Me (Around The World) 
16 All I Want Is Everything 

Victoria Justice - Love Zombie (2013)

Victoria Dawn Justice was born on 19 February 1993, and at the age of 10 she made her acting debut with a guest appearance on the comedy drama series 'Gilmore Girls', and after this her family moved to Los Angeles, when Justice began to pursue a career in acting. The following year, she guest-starred on the second episode of the Disney Channel series 'The Suite Life of Zack & Cody', in which she played a young pageant contestant named Rebecca, and later she was cast as Stella, a young girl who begins seeing visions of Mary Magdalene, in Aaron Ruell's 2005 short film 'Mary'. In 2005 she was accepted into the musical theatre program at the Millikan Performing Arts Academy in Los Angeles, and started appearing in advertisements for companies such as Ralph Lauren, Gap, and Guess, as well as landing a main role in the Nickelodeon series 'Zoey 101' as Lola Martinez, a new student who is an aspiring actress. 'Zoey 101' ended its run on 2 May 2008, and the following year she announced plans to guest star on an episode of Nickelodeon's series 'The Naked Brothers Band', portraying herself. Also in 2009, she starred in the Nickelodeon musical 'Spectacular!', in which she performed three songs, and it became one of Nickelodeon's most popular movies, attracting an audience 3.7 million viewers on its premiere night. In 2010 she confirmed that she would be starring in her own musical show on Nickelodeon called 'Victorious', recording several songs for the series throughout its run, which lasted until February 2013. In a 2010 interview with the Associated Press, she stated that she was recording an album, but planned to take her time with the process, and in October 2012 it was given a release date of 2013. Her debut single 'Gold' was released on 18 June 2013, but in August 2014 Billboard revealed that Justice had left Columbia Records, although she was still recording new music to be released in 2015. In December 2020 she announced that her first single in over seven years would be titled 'Treat Myself', and it was her first as an independent artist. This was followed by 'Stay', released in February 2021, and 'Too F*ckin' Nice' in May. While Justice continues to progress with her acting career, her music appears to be on hiatus, and her 2013 album is now highly unlikely to ever see the light of day, so here it is for us to judge if it should have been released at the time. 

Track listing

01 Love Zombie
02 Solo
03 We Make The Weekend
04 A.D.D. Love
05 Girl Up
06 Caught Up In You
07 Favourite Song
08 Perfect
09 Our Little Secret
10 Priceless

Smoke 2 Seven - Fighting Fire (2003)

At the age of 16 Vicky Fallon O'Neill was signed by president and owner of Curb Records, Mike Curb as part of a three-part girl-band called Holy Smoke, along with Beverley Clarke and Jo Perry, who were both 20 years old. They signed a 7-album deal with Curb, and the group enlisted ex London Records MD Laurie Cokell as their manager, and after changing their name to Smoke 2 Seven when they found out another band already had the name Holy Smoke, they toured with Daniel Bedingfield, and released two UK singles. 'Been There Done That' was released in March 2002, and reached number 26 in the UK singles chart, followed exactly a year later by 'Envy', which only managed number 79. The girls recorded enough music for their debut album, and two versions were pressed up on promo CDr's, under the names of 'Crazy Tale' and 'Fighting Fire', but after Fallon left in 2002, the band drifted apart and the album was never released. After being released from her contract with Curb Records, O'Neill returned to London and began working as a session singer and songwriter under the name Vicky Fallon, working for Disney, Pixar, Alesha Dixon, Alsou and various other pop acts. Clarke and Perry faded from the music scene, but while together they were a tight little band, and as proof of that here is their unreleased 'Fighting Fire' album from 2003. 

Track listing

01 Envy
02 I Will, I Won't
03 The Lizzies
04 Been There Done That
05 Time To Be The B.I.T.C.H.
06 Body Like Butter
07 Crazy Tale
08 Out Of Sight (Stuck In A Predicament)
09 I Hate You
10 Kinda Unstuck
11 No Excuses (Too Late For Sorry)
12 Payback

RichGirl - Fall In Love With RichGirl (2009)

RichGirl was an American R&B four-piece vocal girl group, consisting of Audra Simmons, Christina "Brave" Williams, Lyndriette Smith (now known as Kristal, and later a member of June's Diary) and Amber Streeter (now known as Sevyn Streeter, and formerly of TG4). They were formed with the help of record producer Rich Harrison, and signed to his label Richcraft Entertainment, through Jive Records, drawing inspiration from the musical talents of Destiny's Child, Spice Girls, SWV, En Vogue, TLC, and Beyoncé. They began work on their self-titled debut album in 2009, due for release early 2010, and Streeter described the album as "motivational, empowering, fun, and honest". The girls wrote several songs for the record and did their own vocal arrangements, although they would liked to have written more, but for the label pushing them to get it done. Alongside working on their album, they performed at the annual Teen Takeover event in May 2009, alongside Keri Hilson and Yung L.A., and were an opening act for Beyoncé on the North American leg of her I Am ... Tour in June 2009. Their first official release was the promotional single, '24's', featuring Bun B, on 5 February 2009, which only managed to peak at number eighty-three on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 2009. Their official debut single, 'He Ain't wit Me Now (Tho)', was released on 2 June 2009, and peaked thirteen lower than '24's', although the follow-up, 'Swagger Right', fared slightly better at number 72. 

On 9 September 2009, RichGirl released a free EP through their official website, which included their lead single 'He Ain't Wit Me Now (Tho)' and promotional single '24's', along with snippets of tracks from their then upcoming album, including 'Back 2 Tha Club', 'Millionaire', and the demo of the second single 'Swagger Right', tentatively titled 'Get Ya Swagga Right'. Possibly because of the poor performance of their singles, release of their debut album was delayed again and again, until in 2011 RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista Records and J Records, resulting in the girls (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) being told that future material would be released on the RCA Records brand. With no sign of their album being released, the band posted a mixtape on their website, with 'Fall In Love With RichGirl' being made available for free download. Following poor commercial success from their official singles, speculation arose as the members of the group began to release music individually, and in October 2011 it was confirmed that RichGirl member Lyndriette Smith had been enrolled in Robin Antin's revised edition of the Pussycat Dolls, although this was later retracted. She did release a solo EP entitled 'Proclamation' in December 2011, and in March 2012 Streeter released a song titled 'Red Handed' under the name Se7en, and that pretty much sounded the death knell for the band. Although their debut album never appeared, most of the songs which were intended to be on it did surface on their mixtape, so that's a pretty good substitute for the album which was shelved, and it's a fitting summary of their short career. 

Track listing

01 No Hands  
02.Smile & Wave (feat. Chris Brown) 
03 RichGirl Rock 
04.Circles 
05 Lay It Down 
06 Grenade 
07 You Are My Rock
08 All Of The Lights  
09 Decisions  
10 DJ Got Us Falling In Love  
11 Ready For Love  
12 Got Away 
13 Hello (So Damn Right) / Can't Shake
14 Can't Shake 
15 Lucky You Are 

Angel Haze - Roses Will Rise Again (2015)

Raykeea Raeen-Roes Wilson, known professionally as Angel Haze, was born on 10 July 1991 in Detroit, Michigan, and the family moved around frequently, mainly due to their mother running away from the church. Haze began writing as a form of therapy and expressed an interest in creative writing, poetry and journalism, and their first poem was published at the age of 13 after winning a school competition. By 18 they were freestyle rapping and uploading videos to Youtube, and then distributing music on the internet through sites such as Tumblr, where a fan base began to form. From 2009 to 2012 they put out a number of mixtapes for free download on the internet, including 'New Moon', 'Altered Ego', 'King', and 'Voice', and in July 2012 they released the free mixtape 'Reservation' to critical acclaim, while in August 2013 'Echelon (It's My Way)' was released as the lead single from the debut album 'Dirty Gold'. The entire album was leaked in December 2013, prior to a scheduled March 2014 release, and so the release date was advanced, and it appeared through Island Records and Republic Records on 30 December 2013 to positive reviews, although it only sold just over 500 copies in the first week. On 14 September 2015 a mixtape titled 'Back To The Woods' appeared online, and it was announced that the project was just "something to share before a sophomore", and indeed the title of their second album had already been announced as 'Roses Will Rise Again'. In March 2017. Haze then released the 'Resurrection' single, which was taken from the second album, but nothing much has appeared since then, apart from a lone single in 2021, so it seems like the 'Roses...' album has been shelved. We know about half of the proposed track listing, so by adding in some other unreleased recordings from the same period, here is an approximation of Angel Haze's sophomore effort from 2015. 

Track listing

01 Head Chef 
02 Weight 

03 War Inside (feat. Troy Nōka) 
04 Brooklyn
05 Resurrection
06 Power
07 Candlxs
08 Practice
09 Trust Issues
10 New Slaves
11 Gxmes
12 Unthinkable

Bebe Rexha - Kill Me Back To Life (2015)

Bleta  "Bebe" Rexha was born on 30 August 1989, in Brooklyn, New York City into an ethnic Albanian family from North Macedonia. She took lessons and learned to play trumpet, and subsequently taught herself to play guitar and piano, and she attended Tottenville High School on Staten Island, where she sang in the choir and took part in a variety of musicals. As a teenager she submitted a song to be performed at the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences' annual "Grammy Career Day" event, and earned the "Best Teen Songwriter" award, beating around 700 other entrants. As a result, she signed a contract with talent scout Samantha Cox, who encouraged her to enrol in song-writing classes in Manhattan. In 2010 she met Fall Out Boy's bassist Pete Wentz and worked with him for a time in the band Black Cards, and when she left the group in 2013, she signed as a solo artist with Warner Bros. Records. Some of her songs had been recorded by artists like Selena Gomez and Nikki Williams, but her most prominent song-writing credit was for Eminem's and Rihanna's 'The Monster', which was released as the fourth single from Eminem's album 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2' in 2013. In March 2014 she released her debut single, 'I Can't Stop Drinking About You', which peaked at number 22 on the US Top Heatseekers chart, and in December she released two more singles, 'I'm Gonna Show You Crazy' and 'Gone'. 

On 12 May 2015 she released her debut EP, 'I Don't Wanna Grow Up', and she also co-wrote and was featured on David Guetta's single 'Hey Mama', alongside Nicki Minaj and Afrojack. After meeting Minaj's manager, Gee Roberson, she asked if Minaj would contribute to a new song, and in March 2016 they released the single 'No Broken Hearts'. In October Rexha released 'I Got You' as a taster for her upcoming album, which was also to include 'No Broken Hearts', but the direction changed from a full studio album to a multi EP project, and 'No Broken Hearts' was scrapped, making 'I Got You' the first and only single from 'All Your Fault: Pt. 1', which was released on 17 February 2017. The EP peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200, and she began her first solo headlining tour, promoting the EP across North America and Europe. This wasn't the first time that Rexha had ditched recordings from a proposed release, as while the 2015 EP 'I Don't Wanna Grow Up' did feature five tracks, that was only about a quarter of what was recorded for it, and so here are the other fourteen songs which were rejected at the time. Rexha does have a witty turn of phrase in her song titles, and so this album is called 'Kill Me Back To Life'. 

Track listing

01 Cry Wolf
02 Kill Me Back To Life
03 Bad Bitches Don't Cry
04 Die Tonight (Kiss Me)
05 Mistake Like You
06 Worst Way
07 24/7
08 Rome Is Burning (feat. Sam James)
09 Starlight
10 Over This Love
11 You're A Bitch
12 The Lucky Ones
13 Dead Man Walking
14 Battle Cry (feat. Havana Brown)

Vanessa Amorosi - Change (2002)

Vanessa Joy Amorosi was born on 8 August 1981 in Melbourne, Australia, and by the age of four she and her younger sisters, Mellissa and Natasha, were taking tap, jazz and classical ballet classes run by her uncle. At the age of 12 she started to perform in shopping centres and local council concerts under the supervision of her family, and in 1997 she signed a management contract with MarJac Productions and recorded a promo CD titled 'Get Here', which secured her a deal with Transistor Music Australia. In 1999 she released her debut single 'Have A Look', which became a Top 20 hit and went gold in Australia, and she followed that with 'Absolutely Everybody', an anthemic dance song, which reached the Top 10. When it was released internationally it also reached the Top 10 in many European countries, including the UK and Germany, where it received a gold certification. Two more singles followed, with 'Shine' and the double A-sided single 'The Power'/'Every Time I Close My Eyes' becoming major Australian hits, and a remixed version of 'Shine' was used by the airline Ansett Australia in a commercial. In 2000 she released her official debut album 'The Power', which went to number one on the Australian album charts, and she received six ARIA nominations at that year's awards. Her largest audience came in September 2000, with performances at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and at the Paralympic Games, and later that year she also made a special appearance at the Goodwill Games Opening and Closing ceremonies in Brisbane. 

In October 2001 she released an Australian only compilation album, with 'Turn To Me' featuring some new songs, and tracks from 'The Power', which were previously unreleased in Australia. In 2002 she recorded her second studio album, 'The Change', but it was only ever released in Germany, and contains the previous released singles 'One Thing Leads 2 Another', which debuted at No. 67 on the German Singles Chart, and the Australian exclusive single-release 'Spin (Everybody's Doin' It)', which became a top 50 hit on the ARIA Charts, and peaked at number 64 on the German Top 100. In February 2003 she travelled to Germany to perform her third single 'True To Yourself' on the hugely successful long-running show 'Wetten, dass..?', which screens throughout Europe. 'Change' was set to be released in Australia later in 2003, but for reasons unknown it remains unreleased there, and it never seems to have been considered for a UK or US release. In January 2006 she revealed that she had signed with manager Ralph Carr, having completed seven years with MarJac Productions, and in November she signed to Universal Music Australia, who released her second studio album 'Somewhere In The Real World' in May 2008. Despite her long absence from the music scene, after singing 'Kiss Your Mama!' on Australian Idol she returned to the charts, with the single release peaking at number 15. 'Change', however, was now long forgotten, and it's a shame that it received such a limited release, as it's a great album, and to show you just how good, here it is for you to enjoy.  

Track listing

01 One Thing Leads 2 Another  
02 Turning Up The Heat  
03 Spin (Everybody's Doin' It)
04 Dream  
05 Change  
06 Lifted Up  
07 Back In Love  
08 Who's Lovin' You  
09 True To Yourself  
10 Follow Me  
11 Bitter Twist 
12 Sometimes Happiness

Denim - Denim (2005)

'Denim' was the stage name used by Rhashida Stafford from 2003 to 2010, while she was signed to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. In late late 2003 she started working on her debut album, and a taster single was released in the form of 'Friends (You Ain't Right)', but before it was completed it was shelved by the record label, with some of the songs later appearing on mixtapes and promo CD's over the next couple of years, while others have remained unreleased. At the same time as laying down tracks for her album, she also collaborated with her labelmates Memphis Bleek, Young Gunz and Kanye West, appearing on their songs, but her biggest exposure came with her contribution to the soundtrack of the 2011 film 'Footloose', where she was the featured singer on her co-composition 'Dance The Night Away'. Since then not much has been heard from her, but most of the songs from that abandoned debut album have since surfaced, and so here is an approximation of what Denim's first full length record could have sounded like. 

Track listing

01 Friends (You Ain't Right) 

02 Keep It Movin' (feat. Nicole Wray)

03 Microphone

04 Brooklyn's Finest (interlude)

05 Your Lady

06 I Should Have Listened 

07 Many Men 

08 Who I Am 

09 Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh (Freestyle) 

10 Love Games (feat. Freeway)

11 Hell's Angel

12 Thru Da Wire (Freestyle) 

13 Time To Shine 

14 Giving U All (I Am)