As many people often find out sooner or later, success and celebrity bring along some disadvantages too. If media coverage and being followed by paparazzi might be not such a huge disadvantage, having people you once regarded as friends or even family sue you is a completely different thing. This is now happening to American Idol’s fourth place contestant Chris Daughtry who is sued by his ex-bandmates over royalties.
As you’d imagine, Chris Daughtry wasn’t exactly famous before joining the 5th season of American Idol and finishing fourth. And if you’re not one of his fans, chances are you have no idea what he was doing before the competition. Back when Daughtry was still a struggling musician, he was part of a band that labeled itself as Absent Element. Now that he became a thriving artist, his former bandmates suddenly remembered they played their own part in the writing of four of Daughtry’s hit songs.
Bass player Ryan Andrews, guitarist Mark Perry and drummer Scott Crawford, once members of the Absent Element band have filed a suit against Chris Daughtry claiming royalties for “Home”, “Breakdown”, “Conviction” and “Sinking”. They say that they all wrote the songs together. The legal claim reads:
“All four members wrote music and lyrics for Absent Element’s songs, collaborated on the arrangement and recording of those songs, regularly consulted with each other…and made partnership decision based on majority votes”.
To the news about the legal action initiated against him in North Carolina by his ex-bandmates, Chris Daughtry responded on his website: “I am very hurt by these false accusations. The songs listed in this lawsuit were written solely by me and no one else and at this time, I have no further comment”.
At the moment, Chris Daughtry is in his spring tour with a gig scheduled on June 16th in Tuscaloosa Amphitheater. The artist just released his third album called “Break the Spell” and the industry estimates the album will sell well.
It makes you wonder why Daughtry’s former bandmates haven’t made the allegations earlier, when the artist was just concluding his staying with American Idol and waited six years for him to boost his personal career.
It wasn’t done earlier because he has been stringing them along with promises for the last few years. And they thought they could trust him. They helped write some of these songs , performed them together and had copyrights together. I read the court papers and they have a reputable law firm representing them. This could cost Chris some bucks. Time will tell.
Oh and Daughtry released the album back in Nov and by his standards it hasn’t sold well. Too bad. Hes soooo good