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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 v | H . ■■ x cJ ' * \ WBeF * A' Vi 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 . y <st •» <sp» X —****' ■ > * 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 I •” ' T ' *♦ I 'II I - 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.