AMERIE ATTENDS 36tt AFI LIFE ACHEIVEMENT AWARD CEREMONY; FINDS NEW RECORD LABEL HOME AT DEF JAM.

Singer Amerie is set to undergo a career overhaul - after signing a deal with the record label which turned Rihanna and NeYo into international superstars. The singer has parted ways with Columbia Records and inked a deal with Def Jam, the company that secured the blockbuster track Umbrella for Rihanna in 2007, catapulting her to global fame. And Amerie, who has previously released two albums to moderate success, is hoping the new contract with Def Jam will help boost her career to even greater heights. A source tells Britain's Daily Star newspaper, "Amerie's first two albums did well, but she's ready to step it up a gear now. She was offered a deal too good to turn down and the promise to build upon her reputation for classy and sexy R&B." She is currently in the studio with producer NO ID (Usher and Jay-Z’s Best Thing). Well, I hope she can't finally receive some much needed album promotion with Def Jam. I was starting to believe that that girl was only capable of turning our one hit per album.

Below are images of Amerie attending the 36th AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony honoring actor Warren Beatty at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood last Thursday (6.12.2008). The singer filled in for singer Mya during a performance of Ghetto Superstar (a song off the soundtrack of Bulworth which starred Beatty and Halle Berry) with former Fugees member Pras.

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