Clarkson parts with manager

Pop star Kelly Clarkson has parted ways with her management company, just two weeks before the release of her new album.

The singer - who won TV show American Idol in 2002 - will no longer be represented by Jeff Kwatinetz of the Los Angeles-based company The Firm.

A spokesperson for The Firm says: "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.

"We believed in Kelly from the day we met her and believe in her now. We have only the best wishes and hopes for her in the future."

The news come ahead of the release of her new album, My December, on June 26.