Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe MARIAH CAREY Three months after her first EMI/Virgin Records release tanked, the British-based music giant reportedly is seeking to buy out Mariah Carey's contract by offering her a huge lump-sum payment in exchange for her departure. Advertisement That's according to the Los Angeles Times, which puts the value of Carey's EMI recording contract at $80 million for four albums -- although other reports have said she signed for as much as $118 million for five albums. EMI signed Carey in April after the singer had endured an increasingly unhappy stint at Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment, which is run by her ex-husband, Tommy Mottola. But "Glitter," Carey's Virgin debut album, has sold only two million copies worldwide since its September release. It was the soundtrack to Carey's film debut, which bombed at the box office. By comparison, her 1993 album "Music Box," released by Sony, sold more than 20 million copies. No comment on the Times report from representatives for Carey, EMI or Virgin Records. Carey was hospitalized for a mental and physical breakdown in July and suffered a relapse in September, limiting her availability to do advance promotion for the album and movie. Advertisement U2'S BONO One of the more visible members of the rock music fraternity, U2 frontman Bono, has been named 2001's European of the Year by the publication European Voice. The main reason for the choice, says the newspaper, is Bono's constant crusading for humanitarian causes. The Irish-born singer also endeared himself to millions in the past few months when he spent hours in the air, shuttling back and forth between concert obligations and the bedside of his dying father, in a Belfast hospital. The band's Web site says the 41-year-old singer is going to donate the $4,458 prize to the Irish charity Concern. Also on the cyber site is a statement from the singer saying that the world will be a much better place for all of its citizens if the levels of health and education around the globe can be raised. (Thanks to UPI Feature Reporter Dennis Daily) CHARLES CHAVIS DIES Charles Chavis, the son of the late zydeco musician Boozoo Chavis, died of a heart attack last Saturday. Chavis was the frontman for his late father's band, the Magic Sounds. Charles Chavis's death comes almost eight months after his 70-year-old father died following a heart attack and stroke in May. Advertisement (Thanks to UPI's Mike Cooper in Atlanta)
