'Massive payoff bid to get Carey to quit EMI'

Singer Mariah Carey is being encouraged to quit her contract with London-based EMI for a massive cash payout, it is reported.

Three months after the commercial flop of her first EMI release, executives at the music giant are trying to get her to bail out of their Virgin Records deal by offering her a multimillion pound sweetener, the LA Times says.

Carey's contract is estimated to be worth £55-80million but it is not known how much she has been offered to leave. EMI signed her in April after she had an unhappy stint at Sony Music Entertainment which is run by her ex-husband, Tommy Mottola.

Glitter, Carey's debut album at Virgin and the soundtrack to the film she starred in, has sold only two million copies worldwide since its release in September. Her 1993 album, Music Box, released by Sony, sold 20million.

The Glitter flop capped a personally trying period for Carey, 31, who was hospitalised for a mental and physical breakdown in July and had a relapse in September.