Carla Bruni eyes U.S. fame amid high-profile romance

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With her whirlwind romance with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the global spotlight, former model Carla Bruni is making a renewed bid to carve a name for herself as a singer in the United States.

New York-based label Downtown Records said on Tuesday that Italian-born Bruni, who was raised in France, would release her first English language album widely in the United States next month. Her debut album, released in 2002, was in French.

The album, "No Promises," was released on iTunes and at U.S. book chain Barnes and Noble last August -- three months before Bruni met Sarkozy at a party. The French president divorced his second wife Cecilia just weeks before.

But the album will now see a wide release on February 19 -- possibly in the wake of 52-year-old Sarkozy marrying Bruni if media speculation comes true.

The record label described the album as an elegant record.

"Bruni's lilting, thoughtful tones beg comparisons with the likes of Francoise Hardy, Jane Birkin and Madeleine Peyroux, with breaths of fresh air and Paris in the spring," said a statement from the Downtown Records.

A spokeswoman for the label said the album comprised of Bruni's favorite poems which she had interpreted into "delicate and introspective songs."

These ranged from Emily Dickinson's "I Felt My Life With Both My Hands" to W.H. Auden's "Lady Weeping At The Crossroads," to William Butler Yeat's "Those Dancing Days are Gone" and "Before The World Was Made."

The record label said "No Promises" had sold over 400,000 copies worldwide since its release in Europe last year.