Frank Ocean has cleaned house with his management and PR, according to a report from Buzzfeed. The 26-year-old singer has parted ways with both longtime manager Christian Clancy (who continues to manage Odd Future) of 4 Strikes Management and publicist Heathcliff Berru of Life or Death PR, with a new manager yet to be appointed and celebrity firm I-D PR to handle public relations. Clancy and Ocean’s new rep did not respond to requests for comment. A representative for Life or Death PR said they were “relieved” by the switch-up.
Fresh off a stripped-down performance at Bonnaroo, Ocean has stayed in the headlines in recent months despite laying relatively low as he preps a follow-up to his breakthrough 2012 debut “Channel Orange.” In March, he settled a lawsuit with Chipotle after backing out of a planned deal to record “Willy Wonka” ballad “Pure Imagination” for a TV campaign, while appearing that same month on an original song called “Hero” for Converse alongside Diplo and The Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. Earlier this month, Eagles frontman Don Henley recently reignited his frustration with the singer’s interpolation of “Hotel California” on Ocean’s 2011 mixtape “Nostalgia.Ultra.” And in February, New York label Tuff America sued Ocean’s label group Universal over “Channel Orange” track “Super Rich Kids,” which features a second-hand sample of the label’s “Impeach The President” by the Honeydrippers.
