Ex-Manager Sues Ashanti
It’s time for Ashanti to pay up.
So says her ex-manager, who has filed suit against the Grammy-winning singer alleging breach of contract and seeking millions of dollars in damages, Billboard reports.
The complaint, filed in Manhattan federal court on behalf of Linda Berk, asserts that she was hired in 1999 as a comanager alongside Ashanti’s mother, Tina Douglas, with the aim of transforming her from a budding teenage chanteuse into a “music and entertainment superstar.”
But after guiding Ashanti to massive success over four years, Berk claims she was inexplicably let go in 2003 and her contract terminated, according to court papers.
As it happened, the firing occurred a year after Ashanti shot to fame largely on the strength of her mega-selling 2002 self-titled debut, which spawned the hit “Foolish” and won the crooner a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album. She subsequently followed that up with 2003’s chart-topping release Chapter II.
A rep for Ashanti could not be reached for comment, but a spokesperson told Billboard “the contract naturally expired and we didn’t renew it.”
This isn’t the first time the artist has come under fire from former employees.
Ashanti, 25, lost a court battle last July when a New York jury ruled in favor of her first music producer, Gerald Parker, and ordered her to pay him $630,000 in back royalties for songs they recorded together in 1996 and 1997.
Among Ashanti’s other hits are “Baby,” “Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)” and “Southside.” After releasing a new disc, Concrete Rose in 2004, she also tried her hand at acting, costarring opposite Samuel L. Jackson in last year’s Coach Carter.
Source: E! Online
