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Seal Clubbed for Cash
06/22/2006 2:24 PM, E! Online
Josh Grossberg
Looks like Seal's going to have to dip into that diaper fund.
On Thursday, just four days after the soulful Grammy-winning
musician announced that he and Heidi Klum are expecting another child, a
London judge ruled that the "Crazy" purveyor must pay his former manager
nearly $2 millons in commissions from his first two albums.
High Court Judge Charles Gray held Seal liable for a 1995 agreement
with John Wadlow. That means the artist will have to cough up an
estimated $1.8 million, with the first installment of about $922,000 due
by July 21. the singer was also ordered to cover his ex-business
associate's court costs, estimated at about $900,000.
Seal,
whose given name is Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adelo Samuel, had denied
any culpability in the case, asserting he owed nothing.
But,
while the judge said the English-born singer made an "impressive
witness" during the trial, he ultimately owed much of his initial
success to Wadlow's efforts. Wadlow ran Seal's early career, including
overseeing the singer's first two albums in 1991 and 1994, both titled
Seal, before parting ways.
"I am in no doubt that
[Seal's] accounts of events was an honest attempt on his part to
recollect events, most of which took place long ago," Gray said. "He has
had little formal education but he is clearly an intelligent man. His
answers in cross-examination were thoughtful, modest and fluently
expressed."
But, the judge continued, "it appeared to me
that, at least in the early years of his career as an artist, he had
little interest in its financial aspects and preferred to concentrate on
his music."
Regarding Wadlow's testimony, Gray said, "There
is no doubt that in the early days he did a great deal to help Seal to
build a career. Once Seal's career took off, he felt himself entitled to
share in that success."
Gray declared that Wadlow was
entitled to "continuing" commissions because of a settlement agreement
between the two men gave Wadlow the right to collect royalties from the
entertainer's future earnings for those early records, which spawned
such radio-friendly hits as "Killer" and "Kiss from a Rose."
During the trial, the 43-year-old performer took the stand claiming that
Wadlow, once a beloved mentor and father figure, betrayed him by
manipulating him into signing off on the settlement, and therefore, the
contract was unenforceable. But the judge ultimately disagreed.
Seal and Wadlow met in 1987, when the latter was a co-owner of
U.K.-based Beethoven Street Studios.
While Thursday's ruling
is likely to put a temporary squeeze on Seal's cash flow, we were just
kidding with the diaper crack. He still earns millions of dollars from
song royalties, and Klum's income from modeling and running Bravo's hit
reality series Project Runway isn't too shabby.
The
couple, who have been married since May 2005, have a nine-month old son
named Henry; and Klum has a two-year-old daughter from a previous
relationship.
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