SHY NO MORE: Morrissey is going for...

SHY NO MORE: Morrissey is going for it.

The usually reclusive alternative-radio icon has unexpectedly signed with manager Arnold Stiefel of Stiefel Phillips Entertainment, whose first move was to push the release of the singer’s new album, “Vauxhall and I,” back from its planned November release to February.

The delay, insiders say, is to provide time to develop a strategy for the album that will transform the ex-Smiths leader from alternative darling to Top 40, mainstream superstar. Stiefel is mum about just what that plan would involve or what kind of public visibility we can expect from the notoriously shy Morrissey.

Stiefel, who along with partner Randy Phillips manages Rod Stewart, Patty Smyth and Susanna Hoffs, acknowledged that the plan is to take the often temperamental artist to the masses, but insisted that it would not be done at the expense of his strong “cult” fan base.

If the new album does prove a commercial breakthrough for Morrissey, the payoff will be especially big. He owes only one more album after this under his current U.S. deal with Sire, and the album is the last under his EMI deal in the rest of the world. He’s also set to negotiate a lucrative new publishing deal. Morrissey’s albums have all eventually reached gold (sales of 500,000), but none have set the charts on fire. If the new album can break through, his bargaining power will be greatly enhanced.