George Clinton Loses Songs

A Florida judge ruled that Parliament/Funkadelic founder George Clinton is not entitled to the rights to the music that he wrote in the late Seventies and early Eighties.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled on January 29th that the music written by Clinton between 1976 and 1983 belonged to Bridgeport Music, a Michigan-based publishing company. According to the judge, Clinton signed the rights away to his work in a 1983 contract. Hinkle also prevented Clinton from profiting from the songs, ruling that the singer did not disclose them in his 1984 bankruptcy filing as a source of possible future income.

Clinton argued that he had never signed a valid contract and thus was entitled to income from the songs. He also claimed in his lawsuit, filed in 1999, that he was deprived of money when a number of rap musicians used samples of his old songs but did not pay him fees.

A handwriting expert was called into the case and testified that the signature from 1983 was most likely Clinton's, refuting his claim that he did not sign the contract. According to Bridgeport president Armen Boladian, who testified at the trial, Clinton signed the deal so the company could retrieve more than a million dollars advanced to him during his financial troubles during in the Eighties.

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

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