SPEARS TURNED DOWN UMBRELLA

BRITNEY SPEARS missed out on a huge 2007 summer hit when her representatives turned down global smash UMBRELLA, which became a chart-topper for RIHANNA.Singer/songwriter Taio Cruz has revealed that Spears and Mary J. Blige were both offered the song - but turned it down.Blige still insists the song wasn't right for her, but Cruz was surprised when Spears' handlers chose not to record the song.He says, "They sent it back saying it didn't work for her."Cruz tells Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper he had no doubts the song would be an instant hit.He explains, "The audience can be distracted quite easily, so you want something they can sing along with immediately."(It's) so simple, it's like a playground chant. If you look at the most successful songs, they are choruses of four of five words, three notes, repeated. It's not rocket science."-PRInside