Blog Entertainment for You

By Joan Anderman, Globe Staff

Kelly Clarkson's summer concert tour has been canceled due to disappointing ticket sales, three days after Clarkson fired her management team and just a week and a half before the scheduled June 26 release of the singer's third album, "My December."

"We came to the realization that we had bit off more than we could chew," said Michael Rapino, CEO of concert promoter LiveNation, in an uncharacteristically candid press release issued yesterday.

The cancellation is the latest in a series of dramas surrounding the first "American Idol" winner, whose concert tour was scheduled to begin July 11, stopping at TD Banknorth Garden Aug. 4. In early May news surfaced that Clarkson was locking horns with RCA Records president Clive Davis over artistic control of her new album -- specifically what Davis perceived to be a lack of hits on "My December." Clarkson co-wrote the songs on the new album with members of her touring band rather than the stable of seasoned songwriting pros who had previously contributed material. Calls to RCA were not returned.

Clarkson told MTV Radio in an interview that "obviously they're a record label so they need to sell records. They want the formula writers and the formula producers that do everybody else's stuff, and while I love some of those people, I just don't like working with someone that gives you a song and is like, 'Oh, I wrote this for you,' but you find out that they've given it to every other artist and they turned it down, you know? . . . So, I ended up writing the entire thing with the people that I write well with."

The new album is more rock-oriented than Clarkson's first two albums, 2003's "Thankful" and 2004's "Breakaway," mainstream pop collections that have collectively sold 11 million copies worldwide. "Never Again," the first single from "My December," has (by Clarkson's previous blockbuster standards) underperformed, slipping from No. 11 to No. 17 on this week's Billboard Hot 100 charts, after peaking at No. 8.

"It's stunning how mediocre the single did at Top 40," says Keith Caulfield, charts analyst at Billboard. "It's a perfectly good song, but it just didn't work at pop radio."

On Monday Clarkson fired her manager, Jeff Kwatinetz of the Firm, who is credited as co-producer on the new album. The following day the Firm issued a statement saying "Kelly Clarkson is an enormously talented artist. We are pleased to have served as her managers during her well-deserved rise to stardom and are proud of the role we played in backing her creative choices." A spokesman at the Firm had no comment.

Clarkson's tour is likely to be rescheduled for later dates in smaller venues.

"The day when she will play in sold-out arenas is, no doubt, coming, but for now her fans should look forward to seeing her in a more intimate concert environment," said Gregg Perloff, CEO of Another Planet Entertainment, an independent Bay Area concert promoter working some of the Clarkson dates.

The cancellation of her summer tour, the key promotional tool in the marketing campaign for "My December," may take a serious toll on album sales.

"There's been so much buzz about what the label said, Kelly's been on the defensive, then she fires her manager and the tour is canceled. The whole project is tainted," says Billboard's Caulfield. "Then again, she's Kelly Clarkson and she has a lot of faithful fans. The album could come out and do gangbusters."

Clarkson broke the news on her website yesterday afternoon, where she posted a statement saying that "it really is disappointing for me to have to tell you that I won't be coming out to tour this summer. The fact is that touring is just too much too soon. But I promise you that we're going to get back out there as soon as is humanly possible to give you a show that will be even better."

Tickets can be refunded at the point of purchase, and as future dates become available, current ticket holders will be invited to purchase tickets through an exclusive pre-sale offer.