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Date Posted: 07:46:13 04/14/09 Tue
Author Host/IP: adsl-232-2-217.asm.bellsouth.net/74.232.2.217
Rollers to sue for royalties
PATON'S DEATH COULD LEAD TO £50M WINDFALL
By Siobhan McFadyen, 11/04/2009
THE Bay City Rollers could be in line for a £50million windfall following the death of ex-manager Tam Paton.
A top US court has given the pop legends the green light to sue their old record company for unpaid royalties.
The band's Boston-based lawyer Josh Krumholz said: "This ruling is a highly significant victory."
And last night former Rollers singer Les McKeown said: "This tops off an absolutely brilliant week. I know we are not meant to celebrate someone's death - but I have been.
"Now Paton is out of our lives it will clear the way for us to get our cash. We earned every penny of it."
Paton died of a heart attack in his Edinburgh home on Wednesday, aged 70. He left an estimated £5m. But he'd denied pocketing the band's royalties, claiming that he "signed a dodgy record deal".
Now a judge in New York has agreed the Rollers can sue Arista Records for cash they insist they're still due from the sales of millions of records plus merchandising, downloads and ringtones.
The group's contract promised they'd receive royalty cheques twice a year. But they have only had a single payment of £133,000 in 1997. Estimates suggest the band could be owed more than £50m.
A Rollers source said: "Arista have made excuse after excuse for not paying up. One of their claims was that they didn't know who to send the cheques to.
"But now Paton's gone, the way is clear to find out where the money really is."
If we get the Arista money there will be no stopping us
The Rollers cleared a major legal hurdle when they were granted permission to pursue their case in New York's Southern District Court. Legal eagle Josh added: "We now look forward to recovering in full the millions in royalties the Bay City Rollers have earned, plus the interest due for the many years that their money has been wrongfully withheld."
No one was available for comment at Arista Records, who are based in the Big Apple and now owned by music giants Sony BMG.
But Rollers frontman McKeown, 53, couldn't hide his delight - and claimed the news could even lead to the band RE-FORMING.
The dad-of-two - who claims Paton raped him when he was a teenager - recently spent two months in the Passages rehab facility in Malibu, California, which has also hosted Britney Spears.
He said: "If we get the Arista money there will be no stopping us. I am going up to Scotland next month to talk to the rest of the band about reforming. We hope we can get back on the road."
What do you think? Leave your comments below
But Les isn't sorry Paton - cleared of raping ex- Roller Pat McGlynn in 1977 - won't be there to see them. He said: "Tam was a rapist beast. He ruined a lot of lives. I was only 18 or 19 when he raped me - a young boy.
"Now he's gone, me and the rest of the band are trying to piece together our lives again."
And as for the prospect of getting millions from Arista, a smiling Les added: "Perhaps it was a blessing they held on to it - I might have p****d it up a wall.
"But I'm clean and sober now. I don't yearn for a drink any more."
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Fantastic News
great!
Les that,s fantastic news I really hope you and the others can get together and reunite way to go Les yippee