Although the original release dates for his debut album and single were first published here at Blogcritics, I'm back to let you know the dates have been changed. The previous article's information was based on an email confirmation from Michael himself, but even he could not foresee the need to change the dates at the time. Michael Johns' debut single "Heart On My Sleeve" has been rescheduled to drop on April 14, with radio impact to start April 21.
According to recent reports from various news outlets, the upcoming release is on the TRP Record Label. Through those news reports, we learned Michael has signed a new deal with Downtown Records/Fontana to handle distribution for the new album and single. In other interviews, Michael was also heard to say that he'd signed 
a deal with Sony for distribution too, so maybe it's both. Battling red tape over the distribution part of the release is considered by most to have caused the unforeseen two-week delay from the original release date.
Logistics for distribution might be important to some (namely Michael, his label, and management), but it doesn't matter to me who's distributing the records as long as I get mine the day they go on sale. I'm not here to tell you about his distribution deals anyway. I'm here to announce release dates.
"Heart On My Sleeve" is the first single from Michael's debut album Hold Back My Heart, and there's already talk of a video to go along with the new single. The album release date is now "officially" set for June 23, 2009. According to an article found at The Dead Hub, the single was co-written by Johns Shanks. You might know him from his work with Carlos Santana, Sting, and Bon Jovi, among others.
There's a long list of well-known names that have been associated with helping create this one-of-a-kind album. In previous interviews, we've heard the names Diane Warren, Gnarls Barkley, John Shanks, Rye Randa, Cee-Lo Green, and several others who might have collaborated with Michael on some of the tracks. We still don't know which of those co-writers' songs may have made it to the final product.
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