Simon Cowell defends Kelly Clarkson

Music mogul Simon Cowell has jumped to the defense of American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson, insisting that she deserves the chance to try out some of her own ideas for her forthcoming album 'My December'.

"Miss Independent" was recently forced to deny claims that her label bosses at RCA and Sony BMG were upset with her songwriting attempts for her third studio release, as it was widely reported in the US media.

The American Idol judge strongly believes that the record company should let the American Idol winner Singer little with her new album, because they are "lucky" to have such a talented artist on their books.

Simon Says: ''Kelly is not a puppet; she does not like to be told what to do. She could have gone the easy route, which is, you go with (Since U Been Gone producer) Max Martin - it's a guaranteed success. She made it absolutely clear that she wanted to steer the musical direction on this record.

"You just gotta say, 'You know what? This girl has given us millions and millions of sales.' You've got to give her that opportunity. If it works out, fantastic. If she then decides she wants to do a pop album, every good writer and producer wants to work with her. Because Kelly will be here for 30 years. She has one of the best pop voices in the world right now.

"What she sold in the UK, Europe, Asia had nothing to do with American Idol. It had everything to do with the fact that she made a great record and she's got an incredible voice. She's not a girl who got lucky in a talent competition; we got lucky to find her.''