Simon Cowell’s record label Syco has denied reports Zayn Malik was axed from the company.
The 22-year-old singer stunned fans after announcing he was quitting boy band One Direction back in March.
One Direction is one of the premier acts on Simon’s Syco label and rumours heated up this week claiming Zayn was dropped as an act due to his decision to leave the group.
But a spokesperson has denied the speculation is true.
“Zayn is still with Syco,” a representative for the record label confirmed to Entertainment Weekly.
This comes hot on the heels of reports Zayn was planning to employ a crack team to help him launch his solo efforts. British newspaper The Daily Mirror recently reported he is eyeing manager Sarah Stennett to help him, who has successfully bolstered the careers of stars like Rita Ora.
"Until now, things have been a bit up in the air and a lot of the public information about Zayn’s career has come from Naughty Boy chatting about it. But Zayn has decided now is the time to get serious," a source said.
“Sarah Stennett is very experienced. She’s one of the best in the industry – but she won’t want anybody around who is too much of a livewire or keeps gossiping.
“It might be that Naughty Boy will have to take a back seat in the new set-up.”
The former One Direction heartthrob had been working with producer Naughty Boy on some new music, before their relationship went sour this month.
Zayn took to Twitter a few days ago to vent about how upset he was with Naughty Boy.
"@NaughtyBoyMusic you fat joke stop pretending we're friends no one knows you (sic)," Zayn fumed on Twitter July 13.
It’s unknown whether this was actually the former boy band star writing, if he had been hacked or exactly what the beef is over. However, the tweet is still posted on Zayn’s account as of Friday July 17.
