BRANDY SIGNS NEW RECORD DEAL WITH EPIC RECORDS + CANDID PICS OF BRANDY & KEISHA SPIVEY-EPPS W/HER SON AMIR IN BEVERLY HILLS.

Good news for you Brandy fans. The R&B singer/actress has put her legal woes behind her and has left Atlantic Records, where she has been signed on to since the beginning of her music career, to join the Epic Records family. Brandy--real name Brandy Norwood--plans to release a new album by the end of the year--four years after her final Atlantic release, Afrodisiac. The news is a big boost for Brandy, who spent much of 2007 fighting potential vehicular manslaughter charges following a 2006 fatal car accident. The singer was cleared of all charges last December (2007). And just last month (March 2008), the single mother of one was hit with a lawsuit from a landscaping company, which alleged the singer owed her gardener over $3,500 in expenses for work carried out at her home, according to Billboard.com. But the 29-year-old claimed she was never notified of the outstanding amount owed because the bills were sent to the wrong address. Her representative Courtney Barnes says, "Brandy's business manager moved offices and never received any of the bills in question. The landscaper has now been paid and we expect that the lawsuit will be immediately dropped."

However, a trial date has been set for April 22, 2008.

In related news, the singer was seen yesterday leaving Fred Segal in Beverly Hills with former 90s girlband Total member Keisha Spivey with her 4-month-old son Amir (which she shares with her husband actor Omar Epps). Peep the pics, courtesy of Concrete Loop, below. For those who don't remember, last November, Brandy hosted a co-ed baby shower for Keisha and Omar.

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