More than one hundred new and never before heard Michael Jackson songs are being held by the late singer's sister La Toya, it's been reported.

Jackson's sister is thought to have taken the recordings, which were stored on hard drives, from the singer's rented Holmby Hills home in the hours after his death on June 25.

The drives are believed to contain new songs recorded with singers will.i.am and Ne-Yo, as well as “sensational” tracks left of Jackson's 1987 album 'Bad'.

Jackson's manager, Frank DiLeo, told Reuters he was “pretty sure” the songs were now at the family's home in Encino, California.

In June, will.i.am spoke about the material he had recorded with Jackson, describing it as “fresh”.

“Of course, it was melodic. As he would say, juicy."

He also revealed that he had given Jackson the only copies of the songs because he didn't want the responsibility of keeping them.

“I move around a lot and to make songs with Michael Jackson and risk me losing that music, I didn't want that responsibility,” he said.

"So he kept all the stuff that we worked on."

(by Jason Gregory)