|
Tony Toni Tone Member Sued For Breach Of Contract
03/30/2001 10:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Billy Johnson Jr
(3/30/01, 10 a.m. ET) -- A suit was filed against Tony Toni Tone member D'Wayne Wiggins Wednesday (March 28), which charges the artist with breach of contract in a suit that seeks in excess of $200,000 in damages. The suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by a former employee, Pier Matisse Roach, alleging that Wiggins reneged on his promise to compensate her with 50 percent of the profits from his GrassRoots Entertainment Group Inc., the company responsible for getting Destiny's Child signed to Columbia Records.
Counsel for Roach has also named Sony Music in the suit, charging breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, fraud, and declaratory relief.
In Roach's complaint for damages, she claims that she was responsible for prompting the discovery of Destiny's Child and ultimately getting the multiplatinum-selling female group signed to GrassRoots Entertainment Group Inc. and, subsequently, Columbia Records.
According to the complaint, Roach began working for Wiggins in 1990 at his entertainment company BoomTown, subsequently known as BoomCity and GrassRoots Entertainment Group Inc. When Roach announced that she was going to leave the company, Wiggins allegedly persuaded her to stay, promising her 50 percent of the proceeds from the company's various business ventures.
Roach remained with the company, and in 1995 suggested that the company pursue discovering a female pop group.With Wiggins's agreement, the company discovered the group Destiny's Child, then called the Girls. Roach claims that during GrassRoots Entertainment's effort to sign the group to their production company, Wiggins developed interpersonal problems with the group's management, and said that he did not want to work with the group. Wiggins later agreed to sign the group with GrassRoots Entertainment Group Inc. under the condition that Roach take on full responsibility of the project. Roach also claims that she successfully worked out Destiny's Child's agreement with Columbia Records, where the group remains signed.
The complaint maintains that GrassRoots Entertainment Group Inc. sold its interest in the group to Columbia's parent company Sony Music in exchange for an overriding royalty interest.
Roach claims that Wiggins has not upheld his promise to share 50 percent of the company's proceeds with her. According the complaint, Wiggins's company never provided formal accountings of funds issued to Roach, and only paid her 10 percent of a $200,000 royalty check for Destiny's Child. Roach's complaint adds that Wiggins told her that he would not honor their previous agreement.
During an interview with LAUNCH last year, Wiggins discussed meeting Destiny's Child: "I met them through a friend in Oakland. I met them a long time ago when they were like 9 years old, and they were just starting out. And they had been through a lot of things. You know, signed to different productions and everything, so when they ran up on me, they were looking for a deal. And I got a CD sent to my house in Oakland, and I listened to it, and I remembered them. But they weren't called Destiny at that time. They were called something else."
Wiggins added that the group always worked hard, "I liked how they were young, but they always were the hardest workers in the studio I ever worked with. They would go hours, man, trying to nail vocal parts over and over and over. And even when I thought it was good, and I was more like a fan. I'd step back and say, 'That's great. If you want to do it again, it's on you.' But they would go in there and work. A lot of young artists don't like to work."
A Motown Records spokesperson for Wiggins says she was not aware of the suit and that the label does not respond on behalf of its artists' personal matters.
Roach has previously managed Pebbles and worked as an executive for a management company that represented Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Bobby Brown.
As a member of Tony Toni Tone, Wiggins released four gold and platinum albums--1988's The Who?, 1990's The Revival, 1993's Sons Of Soul, and 1996's House Of Music. He released his solo debut Eyes Never Lie on Motown Records last year, which was met with a lukewarm response.
-- Billy Johnson, Los Angeles
Got news tips, comments, or questions? Send them to newstips@launch.com.
|
