Alicia Keys: The next Bond chanteuse?American R&B singer Alicia Keys is "the top contender to sing the title song for the next James Bond flick, 'Quantum of Solace,'" according to E! Online's Marc Malkin. [1]

Malkin credits an unnamed source as saying, "I believe Alicia is the winner." He said representatives for Keys and the Bond camp wouldn't confirm that comment.

A couple months ago, British soul singer Amy Winehouse appeared to be the front-runner [2] for the job, but work on her proposed theme song ground to a halt after she had a falling out with her producer.

I'm not a huge fan of Keys, but she does have an awesome voice. I'm sure she'd do a great job. And, she doesn't seem to have all the baggage Winehouse does. To paraphrase political columnist Roger Simon's [3] classic quip about Bill Clinton, Winehouse doesn't just have baggage. She's a walking Samsonite factory.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com [5])