Model-turned-R&B singer Cassie quit her catwalk career after she was told to lose weight. The 19-year-old hitmaker was furious when fashion bosses told her she needed to shift some weight and decided to swap modeling for a career in music.

A gift keeps giving: Cassie had just started working with producer Ryan Leslie when her mother asked her to record her a song for her birthday. Cassie and Leslie did a sexy duet called Kiss Me, and when Leslie played it for music executive Tommy Mottola, he offered to be her manager. She later signed a record deal with Diddy's Bad Boy Entertainment. Cassie, who moved to New York last year after graduating high school, says Leslie wrote most and produced all of her album with little interference from heavy-hitters Mottola and Diddy. "They saw the chemistry we had. People know that I'm not a super singer like Aretha Franklin or anything like that, but you realize the love of music between me and Ryan is great. So we want to just have fun and make music that people can sing and dance to."

ME+ U singer CASSIE credits SEAN COMBS with her new-found confidence on stage, insisting she'll never care what others think of her again.

Virgin Mobile USA, in partnership with Warner Music Group, today announced the latest artist in the company's popular First Dibs ringtone lineup -- Bad Boy's new R&B/pop sensation, Cassie. This First Dibs offer runs from August 17th - September 21st.

Virgin Mobile is the only wireless service in the U.S. offering its customers access to exclusive a cappella and instrumental ringtone versions of five of Cassie's hottest tracks off her self-titled debut album, "Cassie." This includes exclusive versions of "Me & U," the single burning up the R&B charts. Virgin Mobile's four million customers also have the unique opportunity to hear Cassie's perspective on her new-found fame first-hand, through downloadable original interview excerpts.