Ashanti Settles Dispute with Producer

Ashanti has put to rest her dispute with her first producer in an out of court settlement. Genard Parker had been seeking $2.3 million from the singer as he claimed that he had helped to launch her career by recording demo songs when she was 16. But all litigation was dropped yesterday in a decision which Ashanti said she was "very pleased about". She told the AP that she would "rather be in the studio writing". No details of the agreement have been released by either of the parties in the dispute. In a trial last year Ashanti was ordered to pay Parker $630,000 for breaking her contract with him, but the judge decided just $50,000 of the award should be paid as he believed the jury could not sufficiently judge the facts of the case.