Pick a Day

Music History Events: Legal Issues

July 27, 2006 The company behind file-sharing service Kazaa agrees to pay record labels over $115 million in damages for piracy.

May 14, 2006 Ashton "Family Man" Barrett, former bassist with Bob Marley's Wailers, loses a lawsuit alleging that Island Records and Marley's estate have failed to pay him millions in royalties.

April 28, 2006 ABBA member Bjorn Ulvaeus is accused by the Swedish government of $12 million US in delinquency of back taxes.

March 21, 2006 Six years after filing suit, the family of African musician Solomon Linda, who wrote and recorded the original version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," reach an agreement with the song's publisher, giving them some royalties. Linda, who died in 1962, signed away rights to the song in 1952.

March 3, 2006 In Vietnam, Gary Glitter is sentenced to three years in prison for sex crimes against minors. Years later, a UK court sentences him to 16 years for similar offenses.

November 5, 2005 Beach Boys singer Mike Love sues the group's mastermind Brian Wilson, whom Love claims is "shamelessly misappropriating Mike Love's songs, likeness and the Beach Boys trademark" in promotion for his album SMiLE. The lawsuit is later dismissed.

October 31, 2005 Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers is convicted of tax evasion. The IRS claims that he demanded cash payment for performances from 1997-2002 and hid assets under the name of his ex-wife. He is eventually ordered to pay $3.1 million in back taxes and serve 3 years in jail. He is released in April, 2010.

August 28, 2005 For the second time in two years, Art Garfunkel is arrested for marijuana possession.

August 23, 2005 Bay City Rollers' lead singer Les McKeown is arraigned on cocaine possession and distribution charges in London. He is eventually acquitted of the intent to distribute.

June 6, 2005 A Los Angeles jury begins deliberation in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial.

April 4, 2005 A man who won an out-of-court settlement in 1994 against the singer for a similar charge testifies in Michael Jackson's current molestation trial.

March 10, 2005 Michael Jackson, on trial for child molestation, shows up to court an hour late and in his pajamas. He appears sickly and frail during most of the ordeal.

January 24, 2005 Country-pop singer Lynn Anderson is arrested for stealing a Harry Potter DVD from a supermarket in Taos, New Mexico, and then, allegedly, punching the arresting officer in the stomach.

November 17, 2004 The Postal Service - the electronic duo known for "Such Great Heights" and "We Will Become Silhouettes" - perform at the postmaster general's National Executive Conference as part of an agreement to use the name, which is trademarked by the stamps-and-letters Postal Service.

November 11, 2004 M'hammed Soumayah, bodyguard for Liza Minnelli, sues the singer for $100 million for allegedly forcing him to have sex with her or be fired.

August 28, 2004 A woman claims to be badly injured by Rick Springfield's butt when he ventures into the audience as part of his show in Syracuse, New York. Her lawsuit is the butt of many jokes but is a real pain in the ass for the singer. The case isn't decided until 2015, when a jury rules in Springfield's favor.

July 19, 2004 James Lowe and Mark Tulin of the Electric Prunes, famous for their 1967 garage-psych hit "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night," sue their former label and publishing company for over one million dollars in unpaid royalties.

June 4, 2004 Nathan Moore, former singer with Brother Beyond and Worlds Apart, appears at Highbury Corner magistrates court and pleads guilty to a charge of kerb crawling in central London. He is fined £250 and ordered to pay £50 costs. The former pop singer was arrested on May 27 in the Kings Cross area after he approached a woman he thought was a prostitute and requested a sexual favor. He then rode away on his moped before being arrested.

April 30, 2004 Michael Jackson is arraigned on his child molestation charges, pleading not guilty to ten different criminal counts, also including extortion and false imprisonment.

March 6, 2004 David Crosby (of The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) is arrested on marijuana and weapons charges in New York City (he's given a $5,000 fine and a conditional discharge).

January 28, 2004 James Brown, 70, is arrested on charges of domestic violence after he's seen pushing his fourth wife, Tomi Rae Hynie, to the floor. He's fined and released from jail the next day after pleading no contest. Brown also faced assault charges from his third wife, Adrienne Rodriguez, in the '80s and '90s.

November 24, 2003 Glen Campbell is arrested for drunk driving and hit-and-run charges in Phoenix, Arizona, after crashing his BMW into another car at another intersection and continuing on. The 67-year-old Campbell, who is sentenced to ten days in jail, allegedly knees an officer's groin during the arrest.

November 20, 2003 After a long investigation, acclaimed "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector is formally charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson at his home in Los Angeles. Spector enters a plea of not guilty, and is later indicted for murder.

November 19, 2003 An arrest warrant is issued in Los Angeles for Michael Jackson, due to recent charges of child molestation. The singer, phoning from Vegas where he is filming a video, convinces authorities to wait for his return to stand trial.

November 11, 2003 The owner of a pub in Wiltshire, England, is awarded £40,000 in damages after suing Van Morrison for pulling out of a scheduled performance at the pub in the summer of 2002 at the last moment.

October 21, 2003 David Gest, recent ex-husband of Liza Minnelli, sues the singer for $10 million, alleging physical and emotional cruelty.

October 14, 2003 Former Temptation (and Dramatic, and Lakeside member) Barrington Henderson sues the band and the Motown label for wrongful termination and millions of dollars in alleged unpaid royalties.

September 27, 2003 Carly Simon sues the owners of New York's famous Dakota apartment complex, claiming they kept her $59,000 down payment after rejecting her rental application.

June 23, 2003 Diana Ross pleads not guilty to drunk driving charges in Tucson after being discovered with a 0.2 BAC, claiming that the arresting officer threatened her with injury if she didn't take the breath test.

June 4, 2003 A grandfather who set up his own pirate radio station in Wakefield, Yorkshire, is under investigation by local broadcasting authorities. The man known as Ricky Rock had erected a 32-foot transmitter in his garden and had been playing hits by The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and Elvis Presley. Ricky said he set the station up because "talent-less boy bands and dance music" featured on local stations did not cater to the tastes of his generation.