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UK boyband sued for royalties
26/02/2008 21:11 - (SA)
London - Two musicians kicked out of boyband, Busted, before they made it big, launched a £10m claim on Tuesday to royalties from four hits they helped to write.
Ki McPhail and Owen Doyle, who say they were removed from the band when manager Richard Rashman took over in March 2001, claim they were forced by threats to give up rights to a number of songs and never received any payment for them.
They say they were told they would never work in the music industry again and that legal action against them could cost McPhail's parents their home.
Their lawyer, Tim Penny, said Rashman told them their band mates, James Bourne and Matt Willis, would go on using the "Busted" name and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Penny said his clients were told that the revised band was going to release songs written together by McPhail, Doyle, Bourne and Willis when they called their band The Termites.
They included Year 3000, Sleeping with the Light On, Psycho Girl and What I Go to School For.
They signed an agreement that they had no rights or interest in the four songs.
Arguing that they were placed under "undue pressure" to release their claims to the songs, Penny said: "The pressure placed on the claimants consisted of repeated advice and threats that, unless they released their claims in relation to the group members' songs and in particular the four songs, they would be sued, Ki McPhail's parents would lose their home and the claimants would never work in the industry again."
The claims came at the start of a 15-day trial in which the pair are seeking to establish that Busted are liable for damages as well as a court order handing over the band's accounts.
- Reuters
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South Africa
