Brandy: Mo' money, mo' problems

Last Tuesday should’ve been a happy day for Brandy. After watching her once red-hot career stall following the release of her widely overlooked 2004 CD, Afrodisiac, she was poised to return to the pop scene with Human, her first album in four years. But just a day before she dropped her new disc, the R&B singer was reportedly hit with a second lawsuit stemming from her fatal 2006 car crash, which left a woman dead. On Dec. 8 in L.A., a man named Donald Lite not only filed a personal injury suit against Brandy for causing the wreck, but he’s also suing the victim, Awatef Aboudihaj, for contributing to the multi-car collision. Lite is seeking unspecified damages to cover his hospital costs. That’s in addition to the $50 million wrongful death suit that Aboudihaj’s family has already filed against Brandy, who was not charged with any wrongdoing (the civil trial for that case is slated for April 2009). Meanwhile, Human is off to a conspicuously sluggish start. The disc’s first single, "Right Here (Departed)," is currently ranked at a modest No. 53 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, suggesting that it’s likely to be overshadowed by today’s release of rival Keyshia Cole’s latest CD, A Different Me. Maybe it’s time for Ray J’s big sister to do a new reality show following her efforts to get her career back on track–either that or a revealing interview with Oprah.