Hunt on for 'missing' singer Peyroux

A record label is hiring a private detective because one of its artists – jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux – has gone missing.

Peyroux’s album Careless Love is set to crash into the top 10 on Sunday.

But the singer, whose voice has been compared to Billie Holiday’s, has disappeared and not turned up for any promotional work, according to Universal Classics.

This is not the first time Peyroux has done a disappearing act – she walked away to spend seven years busking on the streets of Paris after the launch of her debut album, Dreamland.

Peyroux, who was born in Georgia in the US, returned to the music scene but signed up with a small independent label, Rounder Records, which has since been involved in a licensing deal with Universal Music.

The singer has played three concerts in the UK and her album has sold over 150,000 copies to date.

Her track Don’t Cry Baby was used in a million pound advertising campaign by beauty company Simple and her album has become Starbucks’ UK best-seller.

A spokeswoman at Universal said: “The enigmatic singer who tasted early success should be overjoyed with the album’s chart position, but she has now returned to America and is proving impossible to track down.

“Anxious record company bosses and her management company have been trying to contact her for nearly a week to no avail. she has simply disappeared.

“Universal have gone to great lengths to protect Madeleine from burnout through too much promotional work.

“But it would seem that despite these efforts Ms Peyroux has had enough.

“She is that rare thing, an artist more interested in her music than in the glitz and glamour of showbusiness.

“This is one of those classic cases that proves that no matter what, talent will always out.”