Staying ahead of the curve.

Originally home to Baha Men and Joss Stone in the US, record label S- Curve is poised to return through EMI with big releases from Tom Jones and Little Jackie. The time to relaunch has never been better, label boss Steve Greenberg tells Music Week

picture: Josh Rothstein

Tom Jones and Little Jackie will spearhead a dynamic new era for S- Curve, as new albums from the pair kick off the second incarnation of the label.

Jones's as-yet-untitled set will be released in October and boasts production from UK duo Future Cut and the team behind Joss Stone's multi-platinum debut, Mike Mangini and S-Curve CEO Steve Greenberg. Meanwhile, Little Jackie, a new project by little-known Brooklyn native Imani Coppola, will release their debut album in September.

For Greenberg, who took time out from the label he founded to serve as Columbia Records president between 2005 and 2007, the fact that a US- based independent label (with distribution through EMI) which has effectively been inactive for three years can get up and running with an artist of Jones's stature reflects the broader changes that have happened within the music business since he called time on S Curve's first incarnation in 2005. However, in the UK Jones does already have a history with independents, including Gut and V2.

"The world has changed so much since we did this the first time," he says. "The first time we could not get any acts the majors wanted; Baha Men, Fountains Of Wayne, Joss Stone - all these artists had been dropped by majors, even Joss, who had a demo deal with Atlantic. This time around, people seem to prefer to be on a good indie, and that's a huge difference."

Much of Jones's album was produced by Future Cut, the Mancunian production duo that helped shape the sound of Lily Allen's debut and also boast recent work with Nicole Scherzinger, Sugababes and Natasha Bedingfield. Other collaborators include Sam Hollander, co-writer and producer of Gym Class Heroes' most recent studio album, and the aforementioned partnership of Greenberg and Mangini, who produced much of Joss Stone's first two albums and were also behind S Curve's debut release in 2000, Baha Men's Who Let The Dogs Out.