Newspaper Page Text
Tina takes
top Grammy
honors
Page 1
VOLUME 14 NUMBER 40
Augustan among Frankie Lymon’s
widows suing fors million in royalties
From The Phii’delnhia Tribune
TwOWOTrren, each claiming to be
the legal widow of 50s teenage idol
singer Frankie Lymon, have
engaged the services of attorneys in
Philadelnhia and New York to try
to collect upwards of $1 million in
royalties from Lymon’s famed
tune “Why Do Fools Fall in
Love.”
Elizabeth Waters Phillips, also
known as Elizabeth Waters Lymon
of North Philadelphia, and Emira
( Lymon, of Augusta, Ga., are both
contending they are the rightful
and legal widow of Lymon, who
died in 1968, reportedly of a drug
overdose.
Even as Elizabeth “Mickey”
Phillips and Emira are waging a
legal battle over the writer’s
royalties for Lymon’s song, a third
woman remains in the background
as another potential claimant. Zola
Taylor, former Platters’ vocalist,
is also said to have been married to
the boy wonder singer, who in
1956, at the age of 13. wrote “Why
Do Fools Fall in Love.”
Though the exact whereabouts
Tina triumphs at the Grammys
Tuesday night Tina Turner, 46,
one of the most dranatic
comebacks in rock history with
Grammys for best rock perfor
mance by a female and best pop
performance by a female.
It has been a long, trying road.
But mostly it has been long.
Since 1975, when she walked out
on her ex-husband, Ike, and the
musical combination that made
her famous, she has been working
against seemingly unbeatable odds
to get her name back on the label
of a hit record.
But Tuesday night Tina Turner
was back on top.
“I feel really good,” Turner said
after accepting the award for
What’s Love Got to Do With It.
“I’ve been waiting for this oppor
tunity for such a long time.”
“The industry thought that I’d
stopped, because I was doing
Vegas and the hotel circuit. You
can call it the circuit of dying
stars.”
Besides the awards: Her
multiplatinum album Private Dan
cer has sold over 3 million copies
and boasted the No. 1 .single
What’s Love Got to Do With It, as
well as three other hits.
private Dancer finished in the
top 10 of many rock critics’ yearly
polls.
She finished among the top 30
pop artists of the year in Billbaord.
Turner was clearly the sentimen
tal favorite at the awards show.
The crowd shouted her mane in an
ticipation each time emcee John
Ex-Augustan among
Grammy winners
Former Augustan Jesse Norman
won a Grammy for classical music
Tuesday night. Ms. Norman also
won a Grammy last year.
Other Grammywinners were:
Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou
Augusta ■Neuw-ißeutau
of Taylor, believed to be in
California, is uncertain at this
time, research into Lymon’s life
indicates she was one of three
women believed to have been
married to the native New Yorker.
Elizabeth Waters Phillips was
married to Lymon in Alexandria,
Va., in 1964. Taylor and Lymon,
according to reports published in
The Tribune, were married in Las
Vegas in October, 1965, after a
whirlwind courtship of only two
weeks.
Emira, 42, married Lymon in
Augusta, Ga., in June 1967. She
filed a complaint in U.S. District
Court in New York in September
1984 against Morris Levy, Big
Seven Music Corp., Roulette
Records, Inc., Broadcast Music
Inc. (BMI) and Maxwell T. Cohen.
Emira charges the defendants
with conspiracy, employing
fradulent acts, breaching fiduciary
obligations and copyright in
fringement as well as violating the
Sherman Act, Lanham Act and
other acts to obtain property and
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Tina Turner
. 1 >C « • * ■ i.. n[ renutation louring with the Rollink
Denver announced the contenders
in a category in which she was
nominated.
But the greatest praise may have
come from Lifetime Achievement
award winner Leonard Bernstein,
wh odescribed great music as
“when Tina Turner sings ...
anything!”
That affection for Turner
among fellow musicians is nothing
new. Her supporters among rock’s
legendary performers have been
buildign since 1960 when she
recorded her first hit with Ike,
A Fool In Love, while still in her
Harris, Count Basie, Michael
Jackson, Wynton Marsalis, John
Williams, Sheena Easton, Merle
Haggard, Steve Goodman, Lionel
Richie, and Placido Domingo.
Maurice Cherry
cited as pioneer
at Emory U.
Page 1
IU iw
Emira Lymon
money from the song written by
Lymon.
Nine counts of wrongful
dealings have been brought against
the defendants, including fraud
and misappropriation, declaratory
judgment of copyright ownership
and validity, copyright in
fringement, negligence and breach
of fiduciary duty, illegal pattern of
racketeering activities, violations
of the Sherman Act, unfair com
petition and breach of contract.
W'W
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Jessye Norman
teens.
When she began work on
Private Dancer, she was offered
songs by David Bowie and Mark
Knopfier of Dire Straits. English
Musicans from Heaven 17, who
produced Let’s Stay Together, as
well as the Fixx also played and
sang on the album.
Turner remembers her start in
music: “I was a country girl, a
free sould, and a little tomboy
when 1 met Ike. I listened to the
radio, but when I started singing
with Ike I didn’t even have a
record player.”
She went on to establish her
Farn
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urgese
self-help plan .
Page 3 I
March 2,1985
Emira states in the complaint
that on numerous occasions, over
many years, she has tried to reach
the defendants but was turned
away. She also states that she was
told by the parties in question she
was not the legal wife of Lymon
and was not entitled to any
royalties.
Emira, a schoolteacher in
Augusta, is seeking compensation
of all monies due and owed to
Lymon from 1968 to the present as
the rightful heir to “Why Do Fools
Fall in Love.” according to her at
torney, Richard E. Bennett of New
York City.
“We are trying to recapture
restitution of all those sums of
money that were never paid after
his death,” said Bennett, who con
tended that Morris Levy, a
majority owner of shares in Big
Seven Music Corp., and Roulette
Records, Inc. had conspired with
Cohen and BMI to benefit finan
cially from the sale and licensing of
the musical composition.
Bennett claimed that Levy, who
exercises complete control over
reputation touring with the Rolling
Stones and with interpretation of
such songs as River Deep, Moun
tain High and Proud Mary.
“There’s a rumor that I’m in my
505,” she told one reporter about
her current image “So when I first
come on stage, people go, ‘That
isn’t her.’ Sometimes by the time
they figure out it’s really me, I,’
gone.”
She says she’s finally accepted
the comeback tag: “It’s better
than brought back from the dead.
It’s a lot of work, but I can’t think
of anything else I might want to
do, except nothing.”
Lionel Richie
■ Ft. Gordon
Black
dinner
I Page 2
Less than 75 percent Advertising
both companies, devised a scheme
with Cohen (a lawyer) to induce
Lymon to sign a release forfeting
certain rights to performance
royalties accrued through 1966 in
exchange for a “small cash
payment.”
Bennett also states that the
release was. later altered by Cohen
on the instructions of Levy and Big
Seven Music Corp., to falsely state
that Lymon had transferred all of
his past and future rights, in
cluding copyrights, to Levy and his
controlled companies. He said that
Cohen later wrote a letter to BMI
in which he informed the company
that the singer had transferred all
future royalties to Morris Levy. In
addition, Bennett claimed that
BMI wrongfully' paid all of its
revenues from the licenses issued
under the copyright to Levy and
Patricia Music, Inc. (now Big
Seven Corp.)
“Levy made a business in the
1950 s of exploiting young Black
performers,” claimed Bennett,
who also said that Lelvy is
claiming to be the co-author of the
composition and as a result has
collected royalties.
Cohen of New York refutes all
claims in the complaint, and con
tends that he will be vindicated
from the allegations made by
Emira and her lawyer.
Dr. Cherry saluted as
Emory University pioneer
The “Maurice S. Cherry Lecture
Series” was inaugurated at Can
dler School of Theology at Emory
University Feb. 15 honoring the
former Paine College dean and
chaplain as the first Black to be
admitted and to graduate from the
school with a doctoral degree.
The inauguration of the series by
the Black Caucus of the Candler
School of Theology highlighted the
school’s annual Black Heritage
Week Religious Emphasis
Celebration and a banquet on
Friday night culminated the week
long series of events celebrating
Black Heritage Month.
Speaking at the banquet, Dr.
Cherry reminisced about his times
at Emory University. He told the
students and the numerous Black
alumni and faculty of the school
that when he entered the school in
1963, he often found himself sit
ting alone in a corner of the
student commons. This, he said,
was probably the begining of the
“Black Student Caucus.”
On a more serious note, Dr.
Cherry challenged the students
from a text in Hebrews 12:1
(Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us
run with patience the race that is
set before us -KJV).
He told the students, “You must
be witnesses, always remembering
our past in order that you can un
derstand the present and par
ticipate in the building of a viable
future.” Dr. Cherry graduated
from Emory University in 1975
with the doctor of ministry degree
after having also -mpleted a
residency in Old 1 eslament
Studies. He served as chaplain and
associate professor of Religion at
‘ it’s absolutely false. Frankie
Lymon needed money because he
wanted to go into a hospital to
heat his drug problem. He contac
ted Morris Levy. He wanted Levy
to buy his rights, but Morris didn’t
want to.” He reiterated. “The
allegations are absolutely false. I
emphatically state that I had
nothing to do with the situation.
My activity in the case was proper.
“Frankie was in California
when he made the transfer. He
called me in New York and asked
me to make corrections. The
release had not indicated who he
was releasing to. I followed my
client’s instructions.”
Cohen said he has filed a motion
in New York District Court to
dismiss the charges on technical
grounds and that he will later
.follow it up with another motion
for rejudgment. Cohen added that
Levy had credited Lymon with
$30,000 in advance payments and
that the release relieved the singer
of repayment.
Leon Borstein, chief attorneys
or Roulette Records, Inc., and
Morris Levy also refuted the
allegations. Borstein said he has
filed a motion to dismiss the com
plaint, as have the other attorneys
involved. He also said that Levy
claims to the co-author of “Why
See Lymon Widow s, Page 6
gy
_ Rev. Maurice.S. Cherry
Paine College for more than 16
years.
During this time, he helped to
found and served as chairman of
the Board of Ministries to Blacks
in Higher Education and vice
president of the Executive Com
mittee ofthe National Institute for
Campus Ministries.
He has been a minister in the
Christian Methodist Episcopal
Church for more than 30 years,
serving in numerous capacities.
Presently, he serves as chairman of
the Joint Board of Finance of the
Georgia Annual Conference and
Dean of the Georgia Leadership
Education School.
A noted liturgist and preacher,
Dr. Cherry serves as a member of
the World Methodist Council
Commission on Liturgy nad Wor
ship. He is pastor of the West Mit
chell Christian Methodist
Episcopal Church in Atlanta.
