I just spoke with Jordan McCoy's manager, Debbie Hammond, CEO of Clockwork Entertainment, about the Big Girls Don't Cry situation with Fergie. She is "extremely disappointed" with Fergie, producer Toby Gad and manager David Sonnenberg and co. I did a short interview with her to get the details behind the story.

Is this something that commonly happens [in the music industry]?

Not at all. It's really bad business. When we purchased the song, we were told by the co-writer/producer and Fergie's management, that Fergie thought the song was "too immature" for her album and she felt she had better songs. We recorded the song and Fergie's management had a copy of it. All of our paperwork went through and was finalize., They were aware that Jordan would use the song as a single. Yesterday, the co-writer/producer sent me a note saying the song is on Fergie's album; but it's different from the version we did. Of course, it's identical. It's the EXACT SAME VERSION that they gave me on the demo that they submitted, with Fergie singing the song.

When you buy a song, is there not some sort of exclusivity or, at least, a period of exclusivity?

Yes, our agreement gives us a few years to use the song, or master, without them using it.

Is there any recourse that you may be considering?

The damage is done, unfortunately. It probably won't be a single for us now, because it's already out and Jordan's album will be out in March 2007. We can probably get the money back that was paid for the song, if the producer, Toby Gad, has it. He'll probably try and do another song for free. We won't work with them again. They are pretty crooked. They have the same management, so they knew.

Might the song be coming off Jordan's album?

I hope not. It was mine and Jordan's favorite song on the album. Harve Pierre loves it, too. Diddy originally passed on the song, when he heard the demo version with Fergie singing it. He said, "it sounds too dark for Jordan." We loved the song so much, that I asked the co-writer/producer, if we could record it anyway and let Diddy decide after hearing Jordan's vocals on it. Jordan's version wasn't in the least bit dark and Diddy instantly approved it. BEFORE we recorded it, the co-writer/producer went back to Fergie and his manager and made sure she didn't want the song for her album. He checked. I spoke with the manager myself about it. THEY KNEW the song was a single for us. They even grinded us on the deal to get more money out of us for the song, after it was recorded, and Jordan did such a great job on it.

End of interview.

I appreciate her taking the time.

You can listen to Fergie's version at MTV.com and Jordan's version on her MySpace page.