A&R man Aadil Rasheed has launched a new venture with global record company EMI to produce what he calls a Motown for Asian artists.

Rasheed recently took the industry by storm by launching the Canadian singer Raghav five years ago. He has had less success with pushing singer Sona Rele however, and is now working with a new Asian boy band: 3Mix.

The joint venture with EMI Records is being called ‘Gorgeous Brown’ and will launch this year with the debut album by 3Mix.

According to the publicist, the band’s debut single Put It On Me was co-written by former lead singer of Blue, Lee Ryan, and producer Mushtaq (now working with Amy Winehouse).

Mushtaq will also produce Goergeous Brown’s second release: the second album by vocalist Reenie.

Through his previous venture, A&R Records, a joint venture with V2 Records, Aadil delivered Raghav as an international multi-platinum artist scoring 4 top 10 singles in the UK, and his successful debut album Storyteller (2005).

A spokesperson representing the joint venture said they hoped to leverage EMI’s global distribution might for their upcoming acts.