Carla Bruni signs up with Universal Music

Paris: Ex-first lady of France and singer Carla Bruni has switched from the independent Naive Records label to the Barclay logo, a property of the multinational record company Universal Music, for the launch next April of her album "Little French Songs", the Challenges.fr Web site reported Tuesday.

Ten years after recording her first hit disc ("Quelqu`un m`a dit"), the ex-model and wife of Nicolas Sarkozy is leaving the independent label for the multinational "in a friendly way", someone close to her told the web site. "As with fashion houses, she is capable of collaborating equally well with small firms and multinationals," the web site said. The 45-year-old Bruni has signed with a label that works with such names as Jacques Brel, Leo Ferre, Fela Kuti, Henri Salvador, Bjork, Bob Marley, Queen, U2 and Amy Winehouse. Her upcoming fourth album ("Little French Songs") was "accepted almost without reservations by the record company", which simply asked that she re-record two of the songs, the web site said, without offering any financial details about the agreement. IANS