CMT News

LeAnn Rimes is trying to break ties with her Nashville-based record label, Curb Records. The Grammy-winning singer, who now lives in Los Angeles, filed a federal lawsuit last week in Dallas seeking to negate the contract her parents signed on her behalf when she was 12, reports The Dallas Morning News. Rimes wants Curb to turn over rights to all of her past recording and music videos, relinquish publishing interests in her songwriting and immediately destroy all her recordings now being distributed. Tom Rhodus, Rimes' Dallas attorney, said his client is now 18 and has the right to make her own deals. "We're not saying ... [the record company was] taking advantage of her, that it was a bad contract or good contract, but she can tell you, she thinks she can do a lot better," Rhodus told the Morning News. Since debuting in 1996 with Blue, Rimes has sold more than 14 million albums for Curb, which is also home to platinum-selling artists Tim McGraw and Jo Dee Messina. In May, Rimes and her mother, Belinda, filed suit against her father, Wilbur Rimes, and business partner Lyle Walker alleging they mishandled her money. The suit is still pending.