Can Crazy Frog revive a career that croaked?
By Adam Sherwin

Michael Jackson has appointed Guy Holmes, the London-based music entrepreneur, as his manager and the boss of a Bahrain-based record company that will release the star’s comeback album.

Jackson, 47, has been living in self-imposed exile in the Gulf state as a guest of the ruling family since his acquittal on child abuse charges in the United States last year.

Yesterday he announced the creation of Two Seas Records, a joint venture between himself and Prince Abdullah Hamad al-Khalifa, the son of Bahrain’s ruler, Sheikh Hamad.

The move comes as the tarnished musician reached a refinancing agreement with the music giant Sony, which could see him lose control of the $1 billion (£558 million) Beatles back catalogue.

Holmes, 46, has taken on the daunting task of revitalising the career of pop’s bestselling star, which was left in shambles after the molestation trial.

Jackson’s last album, Invincible, released in 2001, sold only two million copies, despite heavy promotion.

Holmes has a reputation for rebranding older stars for the contemporary market. In 1999 he relaunched Tom Jones, then 59, with an album of duets that matched the Welsh veteran with stars such as Robbie Williams.

The single Sex Bomb made Jones an unlikely dancefloor hero and the Reloaded album sold five million copies worldwide.

However, Holmes, who has spent 30 years in the British music industry, has inflicted several novelty acts on record-buyers.

When record companies turned down the dance-pop act Right Said Fred, Holmes released their I’m Too Sexy track on his own Gut Records. The song topped the British and US charts in 1992 and their debut album sold five million copies.

Last year Holmes spotted the hit single potential of the irritating Crazy Frog ringtone. A dance version topped the international singles charts and, under Holmes’s tutelage, the ringtone spawned an album of Crazy Hits and a Christmas single. Gut has also released records by Aswad, Jimmy Somerville and 1970s survivors, Sparks.

Jackson observers are sceptical, but the 350 million-selling star, who once recorded for the Motown label, is said to be planning a pop comeback.

Unveiling the partnership, he said: “I am incredibly excited about my new venture and I am enjoying being back in the studio making music.”

Holmes, the head of Two Seas Records, will divide his time between London and Bahrain, oversee the recording of Jackson’s album and managing the star’s business interests. The album will be released in “late 2007”, according to a statement on behalf of the singer.

Jackson’s recording contract with Sony has expired, along with residual goodwill between label and artist. Holmes will shop the album around record companies, who would still be interested in an album demonstrating signs of the form that produced the 52-million selling Thriller.

Holmes will seek to license Jackson tracks to film and advertisements and is a believer in mobile download sales as the music industry’s future. He recently said: “My view is that the iPod is an antique, and that phones should be iPods.”

Jackson hopes to concentrate on his music after negotiations with financiers produced an agreement to ease debts of about £200 million.