EVERTON footballer and fledgling music mogul Kevin Campbell won a court order yesterday to prevent notorious R&B singer Mark Morrison from releasing an album.

The striker, who signed Morrison to his own music label 2 Wikid Records, claims to have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds recording and promoting the album, which was due to be released next month.

He believes Morrison, best known for his 1996 hits Return of the Mack, Crazy and Horny, was planning to release it today through another record company.

The injunction forbids Morrison, Mona Records Ltd and distribution firm Jet Star Phonographics from releasing the album, or any of its individual tracks.

Campbell said he was "gutted" at having to take the drastic action and blamed Morrison for wrecking his dream of working in the music industry.

He said: "I'm glad we were granted the injunction but I'm completely gutted that we have had to go that far.

"Mark Morrison was given everything he asked for by 2 Wikid but it seems that he couldn't help but return to his old ways.

"Ever since I was a little boy I've had two passions - football and music.

"I've worked hard to realise my ambition in football but had hoped that my future career would be in the music business.

"I have always dreamt of starting a record label but now Mark Morrison has spoilt that dream for me. There is no loyalty in this business - just greed."

The case will be heard at the High Court on Monday.

His solicitor, Chris Farnell, said: "We are delighted that the court has upheld the action and we look forward to going back into court to make Kevin Campbell's position absolutely clear."

Morrison, who grew up in Leicester, was jailed in 1998 for hiring a stand-in to carry out a Community Service Order he was sentenced to after being convicted of possession of a stun gun.

In August this year, he was involved in a fracas in a Leicester nightclub, in which he claimed a £10,000 diamond pendant was ripped from his neck. Last night, Morrison hit back at Mr Campbell and the injunction yesterday, pledging: "The Mack will return - and no judge is gonna stop him."

He said: "The injunction is ludicrous.

"I signed a new deal with a new record company because I was not getting the support I needed from 2 Wikid.

"I was with that label for a year and in that time released just one record, which was not properly promoted.

"He was not running the label well and that reflected badly on me. He might be a name in football, but I am a name in music.

"The whole world is waiting for this album and it will come out on December 27. No injunction or judge will stop it. The Mack will return."

Morrison also pledged that the first single from the album, titled Blackstabbers, will be released on January 31 next year.

He said: "I might dedicate it to Kevin Campbell."

A small man with bodyguards and a violent past

* CONTROVERSIAL R&B singer Mark Morrison is no stranger to the workings of the British criminal justice system.

The self-styled bad boy of pop has been behind bars on more than one occasion and has a criminal history of violent and threatening behaviour.

The Leicester-born performer was jailed for 12 months in 1998 after hiring a stand-in to carry out a Community Service Order he was sentenced to after being convicted of possession of a stun gun.

He had been jailed for three months the year before for the original offence of threatening a policeman with the electric weapon. The diminutive star drips with gold and is usually surrounded by bodyguards.

Aside from his stints in jail, Morrison's criminal history includes being banned from driving for motoring offences and being fined for threatening behaviour and criminal damage.