Did Billy Joel Scam His Former Drummer Out Of 30 Years Worth Of Royalties? The Truth About Their Mes
Highlights
- Billy Joel's former drummer, Liberty DeVitto, filed a lawsuit towards Joel in 2009, claiming unpaid royalties.
- The lawsuit used to be settled out of courtroom, so the actual amount DeVitto gained is unknown.
- DeVitto and Joel have since reconciled and at the moment are on good phrases, with Joel even agreeing to put in writing the foreword for DeVitto's memoir.
As one of the biggest stars in music historical past, Billy Joel has discovered some ways to make a huge fortune over the years. More not too long ago, Joel's Madison Square Garden residency has made him a truly staggering amount of money. In the previous, Joel also managed to become rich through physical media sales since he's one of the best-selling artists in music historical past.
With Joel's tune bringing in such a lot money, you'd undoubtedly assume that there could be greater than sufficient to go around. However, a former drummer that Joel labored with claimed that the legendary singer and songwriter refused to pay him the royalties he was owed.
Who Is Billy Joel's Longtime Drummer, Liberty DeVitto?
Throughout music historical past, there have been so much of bands that have taken the world through storm and became broadly respected. On the other hand, there have additionally been so much of solo artists who controlled to stay in the spotlight through themselves for years.
When people listing the maximum a hit solo artists of all time, they'd be making a massive oversight if they don't come with Billy Joel. That stated, the truth is that Joel labored along several musical artists all the way through his career.
For many, many years, Joel depended on a drummer named Liberty DeVitto to supply him with the rhythm that any music wishes. Tapped to tour with Joel for many years, DeVitto also contributed to the singer's most a hit albums and songs.
Between 1976 and 1993, DeVitto carried out on eleven of Joel's albums. DeVitto additionally went on the street with Joel up until 2006 when it used to be introduced that he would not be becoming a member of the singer on his excursion at the time.
On best of all the paintings DeVitto did with Joel, he collaborated with a number of different famous musicians. Some of the other artists that DeVitto worked with in the studio include Carly Simon, Mick Jones from the band Foreigner, and Karen Carpenter.
Inside Billy Joel's Lawsuit With His Former Drummer
When Billy Joel and Liberty DeVitto went their separate ways, it took many in the tune business through marvel. After all, no longer only did the two longtime collaborators stop playing together after kind of 3 a long time, no one initially presented an reason behind their split with the exception of "musical differences".
Several years after DeVitto left Joel's band, observers started to realize there was bad blood between the longtime collaborators. The reason why for that is in May 2009, DeVitto filed a lawsuit in opposition to Joel in search of years of royalty payments that the drummer mentioned the famous singer owed him. Joel's report corporate Sony Music Entertainment Inc used to be additionally named as a defendant.
Typically, when there is a musical lawsuit, it is easy to say exactly how a lot the litigant is looking for. According to DeVitto's lawyer, however, they did not actually know what quantity of money they believed Joel owed.
According to the Telegraph's article about the lawsuit, DeVitto (*30*). According to DeVitto's legal professionals, he was entitled to royalties, but he wasn't positive how a lot his consumer was once owed, in order that they insisted that Joel's sales must be subject to an audit.
After DeVitto filed his lawsuit in 2009, it didn't take long for things to come to a head. Less than a year later, it was announced that the former longtime bandmates had settled the lawsuit out of court.
When it was introduced that the lawsuit was once over, a legal professional for Joel named Paul LiCalsi commented on the agreement. However, all that LiCalsi was keen to say was, “The case has been amicably resolved.” As a end result, there's no solution to know how much cash DeVitto walked clear of the lawsuit with.
Since the lawsuit was once settled out of courtroom, there isn't any definitive option to know if Joel truly did owe DeVitto unpaid royalties. After all, Joel will have settled best as a result of he sought after to steer clear of the time and bills it will value. On most sensible of that, Sony Music Entertainment will have pushed Joel to make a deal since many companies insist on settling proceedings.
What is apparent, on the other hand, is that DeVitto virtually without a doubt were given a payday of some type from his lawsuit. After all, why would DeVitto agree to settle his lawsuit if there used to be not anything in it for him?
Are Billy Joel And Liberty DeVitto Friends Now?
After Billy Joel dismissed Liberty DeVitto from his band earlier than his 2006 tour, the drummer had arduous feelings for a very long time. DeVitto would move on to express his anger when he used to be interviewed for a 2016 documentary about musicians titled Hired Gun.
DeVitto would then pass directly to pen a memoir titled "Liberty: Life, Billy and the Pursuit of Happiness" which used to be launched in 2020. While speaking to Rolling Stone at the time of his memoir's release, DeVitto published that he was still indignant when he started operating on the mission. “I used to be the ‘angry previous guy."
As time went on and DeVitto was ready to release his resentment during his interview for the documentary, his standpoint started to modify. DeVitto would cross on to take duty for his relationships that had long gone incorrect including with an ex-wife.
DeVitto also grew to realize that the harsh things he'd written about his old bandmate Billy Joel were a mistake. As he explained to Rolling Stone, he decided to edit his book to be fair to Joel and his ex-wife.
“I had to go back and think about what I’d written. I went back in and rounded out the tough edges.” "I started thinking about how Billy thought, why he did the issues he did. And also why I did the things that I did. The more I assumed about all that, the more I believed, ‘Life is simply too brief to be angry all the time.'”
As Rolling Stone's article revealed, DeVitto wasn't the only one who made up our minds to make peace. Once the drummer reached out to Joel, the two reunited, and left on good terms for the first time in many years.
"When he was nearly done writing it, he reached out to Joel via email, and the two old friends agreed to meet up for breakfast and finally make peace. Joel even agreed to write the foreword for the book, something that would have been unimaginable just a couple of years ago, when they communicated solely through lawyers and angry comments back and forth in the press."
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