PETE DOHERTY - DOHERTY GOING SOLO

Pete Doherty is well on his way to recording his debut solo album and is looking at a summer 2008 release, according to producer Jake Foir.

Three of the planned 12 songs have been completed thus far, he explained, adding that south London band the Thirst are to contribute.

Talking to NME.com, Foir said: "We're recording it piecemeal between two studios in London. We go in for two or three hours at a time, usually at about two in the morning, and get stuff down."

He continued: "It sounds slower and more intimate [than Babyshambles]. Pete's writing is more universal, rather than about personal experiences."

But while the album is progressing well, Foir said Babyshambles' label Parlophone is unhappy about the former Libertine recording outside of their jurisdiction.

Doherty is currently living in rural Wiltshire, having suffered a heroin relapse, evidence of which was captured on a camera phone.

But the Babyshambles frontman is "still on top form", Foir assured fans.

"I just spent a weekend with him - just me, him and the cats," he recalled. "He's out there in a 28-room mansion - it's very 60s-style and cool, I keep expecting Marianne Faithfull to come walking through one of the doors!"