Back in New Jersey, Ronnie Italiano and the UGHA had adhered to Emiras aforementioned wishes and held off on moving forward with their project to acquire and place a memorial tombstone on Frankie Lymons grave until her lawsuit was settled. According to Spans reporting, Emira paid the $2,000 bill. ", But in 1984 (as the original copyright term of the song was expiring) Emira Eagle Lymon brought suit in U.S. District Court in New York against Levy, his attorney, his record label and his publishing company. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. and never miss an insightful take by the TFIGlobal team, This website uses cookies. He didn't mind. Lymon didn't even leave a grieving widow to serve as keeper of his flame. Why does the rain fall from up above? By the time Frankie showed up, unannounced, in Los Angeles, Zola had done well for herself. Borstein also said that Lymon, who was always pestering Levy for money, sold Levy the copyright to all his songs and that Levy has a signed document to that effect. The small wedding party celebrated by getting very drunk, not an uncommon state for Frankie at the time. A pop record seemed disposable then, before the rise of the nostalgia industry. Best Answer. Paralleling the spectacle of these three women battling over Lymons heritage is the way different elements of this film, directed by Nava from a script by Tina Andrews, are in conflict with one another. These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. They were there in Surrogate Court -- the three would-be widows and their teams of lawyers and witnesses -- for 10 days this past December and January, raking over the past. Levys attorney responded that the agreements with Elizabeth and Zola amounted to standard industry contracts. 1200 Observatory Drive | Madison, WI 53706-1212 | Map. I know its been good for me.. Lymon and his group followed up with three more hits in 1956 and another in 1957. The pair claimed they wrote "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" with Frankie Lymon and asked for a declaration of rights to the copyright of the hit song. Span reported that Zolas secretary and her booking agent both testified that they were witnesses to the wedding, and that her attorneys argued that California law made her a putative (believed to be) spouse entitled to share in Frankie Lymons property. 1 pop hit for Diana Ross in 1981 and recently turned up in a greeting card commercial. Your email address will not be published. At the least, records and witnesses' recollections seem to indicate that Frankie Lymon did stand before a magistrate or minister on three occasions to promise himself to each of these women until death parted them, which turned out to be a fairly short time. Lymon's work had largely been reduced to lip-syncing at record hops; he said Zola could help get him some gigs in Los Angeles. Mays Mortuary, 1221 James Brown Blvd. Eagle's New York counsel Ira Greenberg agreed that his "current inclination" was to appeal. Although Emiras attorneys advised her not to talk to Paula Span until the Surrogate Court reached a decision, Anne Pomeroy of the Artist Rights Enforcement Corporation, who was working with Emiras lawyers, spoke with the reporter. 8822 County Road 64. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon said. ELIZABETH OGLE WATERS OBITUARY. probe. "And he was still just a kid when he started on the next wife, Elizabeth Waters," said Nava. Lymon is always short of money, no childhood, and, in most descriptions, lacks calmness, but when a small star appears on the stage, he always steals the limelight. Depending on how the judge rules, the decision may reactivate a federal suit to wrest Lymon's royalties and publishing rights from the record industry executive who claims to own them. Yet just over a year later, Lymon would be found dead in his grandmothers bathroom from drug abuse. "He had such presence, he'd just take over a stage and wipe an audience out. Artist Rights Enforcement Corporation was heralded by the New York Times as the white knight of rock n roll for its efforts in recovering uncollected royalties for a host of artists including Wilbert Harrison, Richard Berry, the Coasters, and the Dell Vikings to name just a few. She and Frankie became teenaged lovers in 1956 while they were on an Alan Freed bus tour of 81 one-nighters, each performing with their group along with an all-star cast. She's going to call it "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?". Frankie Lymon Music - Singer Why Famous: Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, band Age: 25 (8/30/1942 - 2/27/1968) Frankie Lymon's Relationships (3) Elizabeth Waters Other - Spouse "Sell, sell, sell," he advised. Yes, the three women are gorgeous and talented, and it is fun to see them having at one another. Zola never saw him alive again. Im sure it probably would bring back some good memories, she said of the show that was being staged at the Imperial. As a been-around woman never at a loss for an insulting put-down (He dropped you like a whores panties is one example), Fox gives Fools most engaging performance. They became lovers, Zola testified, one night in Bangor, Maine, when Frankie had won $1,700 gambling with Clyde McPhatter and she had gotten "a little loaded drinking scotch and water." In fact, Rubin calls them "mundane, everyday.". Levy was the head of Roulette Records, the independent label that bought out the Gee label which originally released the record. He was a master manipulator, however, and it was just two months after his less than honorable discharge for repeatedly being AWOL that he went to New York, telling Emira that he wanted to see about reviving his career while also secretly planning to contact lady friends and drug pushers in the city. There was nothing in writing in regards to the fundraisers or purchasing the headstone, Olb said. And the true imponderable, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?". Visit our Macron wont let go off Africa so easily, he is love sick, Canadas Debt Crisis: A Never-Ending Burden Passed On From Generation to Generation, Alcohol tax in Canada: Canadian government is taking a sip out of your beer. Levy declined direct comment of the Lymon matter. Mays Mortuary, 1221 James Brown Blvd. Artists Rights helped secure a financial settlement for Richard Berry, composer of "Louie, Louie" just before the song was used in a wine cooler ad. In his book, Me, the Mob, and the Music, Tommy James characterized Levy as willing to strong-arm the artists signed to Roulette, and that the label was notorious for not paying its artists for their record sales. He can't remember what Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers sounded like that day -- the girls' shrieks all but drowned them out -- but he recalls the excitement. I caught Frankie at a good time in his life. Running time: 1 hour, 56 minutes. Her adversary, Morris Levy, was a powerful force in the music business. Editor Nancy Richardson. She had insisted that he check himself into a Manhattan hospital to cure his drug habit. When you made a deal with Ronnie, it was usually oral, a real old-school type of business person. Lymon was one of hundreds of kids in Harlem who had taken to street-corner harmonizing in the 1950s, rehearsing in apartment house hallways and echoey subway stations. The two surviving members of the Teenagers claim that they wrote the song with Lymon when they were all Harlem street-corner harmonizers hoping for a break. The marriage to Eagle is valid, so she is entitled to a fief. NEW YORK The judge who last winter heard three middle-aged women testify to their heartaches with the late Frankie Lymon the doo-wop idol who cowrote and sang "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" and died 20 years ago of a heroin overdose has found Elizabeth Waters, 46, of Philadelphia, to be Lymon's legal widow. "The only thing Morris Levy had to do with it was to collect the money," Santiago said. Friday, November 06 2020. She says she's never recovered financially from the loss of her home and still feels "cheated," yet she also talks about Lymon's ruptured family, and, again, his drug dependency. He (Frankie) sort of changed my life, she told the judge. Parts of the above testimony and chronology of events were disputed in court. No one foresaw that the people who grew up with the music would refuse to relinquish it, repeatedly recycling it into movie sound tracks and albums, cover versions, oldies compilations and TV commercials. The origins of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" In 1986, the women, who were never divorced from Lymon, filed copyright claims in federal court in New York for Lymons songs. William McCracken, who represents Emira Eagle, called her at the elementary school where she teaches. Rochon portrayed Bryant, who married Lymon on June 30, 1967, at Beulah Grove Baptist Church near Paine College when Lymon was stationed that year at Fort Gordon. Music Stephen James Taylor. But Elizabeth's attorneys argue that she and Frankie lived in Philadelphia and therefore established a common-law marriage under Pennsylvania law. Zola testified that their affair continued off and on for several more years. Conscious of her stardom (Reporter: "Are you still performing in California?" Zola Taylor Lymon, now 50, one of the original Platters, had flown in from Los Angeles. Before the case came to court, Emira changed her mind about the tombstone, despite initially agreeing to have Ronnie Italiano and the UGHA to undertake the project. 05:00 PM - 08:00 PM. The retired Richmond County schoolteacher in her years after Lymon was married to Augustan Leroy Bryant. A lot of people say I knew him so long I became like him.. It is copyrighted in the names of Frankie Lymon and Morris Levy, head of Roulette Records, an independent label that bought out the Gee label, which originally released the record. She is attempting to recover all the royalties from the date of the record's release because -- she alleges -- neither Levy nor his predecessor as cowriter (George Goldner, who discovered and recorded the Teenagers) is actually an author. If the judge's ruling stands, "then we go to federal court and advise the judge that the party who commenced the action is the wrong party," says Levy's attorney in the case, Leon Bornstein. He figured that once the case was over there would be no problem," Olb recalled. According to Span, Rubin was not opposed to generating new income from old music. A headstone was not part of the package, however, and Frankie Lymon was buried in an unmarked grave at St. Raymonds Cemetery. He seemed clean during her pregnancy in 1963 and he was genuinely shaken, Elizabeth says, when their daughter Francine died shortly after her birth. The first decision was made in Waterss favor; Eagle appealed, and in 1989 the New York State Supreme Court Appeals Division overturned the original decision and transferred ownership of Lymon to Eagle. "Emira's Frankie Lymon is not this drunken bum," Pomeroy says. With black rhythm and blues releases beginning to win white audiences, music had become a ticket to glory. That eventually led to singing on street corners with friends and being discovered at age 12 by George Goldner of GEE Records. He established his Artists Rights Enforcement Corp. in 1981 to hound, bully or sue record companies that he thought were depriving artists of their earnings, taking a substantial cut for his efforts. Similarly, one of the unexamined factors in his turning to hard drugs was apparently the difficulties caused by his voice beginning to change. "I'm not a person to hold a grudge. He claimed that both women thought that their agreements with Levy were fair, and that neither planned to take legal action against him if she is found to be Frankies widow. The signs were plain, she says now, that Lymon was floundering, working only intermittently, addicted to drugs and probably to alcohol as well. Half adroit flatterer, half emotional infant, the films Lymon offers hardly a clue as to why his real-life counterpart was so irresistible to women. Frankie told Elizabeth that Zola and I arent doing anything; its just a motherly relationship, Elizabeth testified in court. Why Do Fools Fall In Love was a prime example, and its publishing rights may have earned a lot of money by 1984, according to Chuck Rubin of Artists Rights Enforcement Corp. Rubin established his organization in 1981 to represent artists who he believed had been deprived of their earnings by their record companies. That suit was suspended while Lambert determined which woman was Lymon's widow. He was previously married to Emira Lymon, Zola Taylor and Elizabeth Waters. For part of Lymons appeal to women was how uncommonly young he was; the singers first hit came before he was 14, younger than most romantic leads can play. He died on February 28, 1968 in New York City, New York, USA. When Frankie Lymon died from a heroin overdose in 1968, he was broke and trying again for a comeback that he never achieved. At the trial, Elizabeth testified that she saw Frankie on that visit, as she had a number of times both before and after his wedding to Emira, which she said she knew nothing of. Span wrote that Rubin gets his share too. During his brief lifetime, Lymon became world-famous for his hit singles with The Teenagers including "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" This answer is: Lymon, known for being the lead vocalist of the world-wide popular rock group Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, died less than a year later on Feb. 27, 1968, at age 25 in New York City, reportedly of a heroin overdose. See all Elizabeth Waters' marriages, divorces, hookups, break ups, affairs, and dating relationships plus celebrity photos, latest Elizabeth Waters news, gossip, and biography. That case can now proceed, their attorney says. But the case may not end there, of course. -- a classic bit of doo-wop doggerel with Lymon credited as coauthor -- are murky. Elizabeth, now 46, says she's been born again, but she still strives for glamor, her skirt fashionably above the knee, her fingernails long and orange. He then was a private in the Army taking basic infantry training at Fort Gordon and assigned to Company D, 16th Battalion, 2nd Training Brigade. Set designers Clare Scarpulla, Michael Bernard. Big Seven agreed to pay Elizabeth an additional $5,000 if the federal lawsuit is dismissed because the plaintiff (Emira) is not the legal widow. An employee of a furniture store in north Philadelphia, she was in South Carolina for a family funeral. Levy declined direct comment on the Lymon matter. "Some drug users, they rob, they steal, and they do everything to sustain that habit." Rubin's 200 or so clients constituted an honor roll of early rock and roll. Zola Taylor said she married Lymon on Oct. Why Do Fools Fall in Love is not quite the question asked by this up-tempo, relentlessly cartoonish biopic focusing on the tangled romantic life of an early rock star. She claimed to have . ", "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" was part of the American Graffiti film soundtrack and album, a big pop hit single and album for Diana Ross in 1981, and had been used in a greeting card commercial. Emiras case was just beginning when Elizabeth Waters Lymon petitioned the Surrogate Court claiming that she was Frankie Lymons widow, and Zola Taylor also objected claiming that she was Lymons rightful widow. It makes him not only a good soldier, but a better individual. Only after the trial to expose his wife was revealed, Fox was appointed as the producer. Elizabeth 'Mickey' Waters : You see, y'all gotta understand. According to the obituary published Sunday in The Augusta Chronicle, funeral arrangements will be announced by W.H. Her published account of the trial and the three women contesting to be named Frankies legal wife and heir was titled The Three Wives: The Legacy Of Love. Elizabeth may have had the hardest time of it. She told the court that she wanted to help him get back on his feet and regain all he had lost, but that trying to help him wasnt easy. Smalls Mortuary - Eastern Shore. That wasn't his style. Also Read:Uplift Suasion: the notion to change racism, Your email address will not be published. But he will apparently have little trouble with Elizabeth Waters. View our. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Zola has been unable to locate records documenting their Mexican wedding, or documenting her Mexican divorce from her previous marriage (her second). The only child he is known to have fathered died hours after her birth. And if Zola wins she's also decided to record an album of Frankie's hits -- "I Want You to Be My Girl," "I Promise to Remember," all the big ones. Back in Los Angeles, the club where Zola was performing tossed a celebration, with a cake and champagne. They pointed to the contracts that Elizabeth and Zola signed with Levys publishing business, Big Seven Music Corp. Each assigned the songs copyright to Big Seven in exchange for an advance ($10,000 for Elizabeth and $7,500 for Zola) against her share of future royalties. Neither Zola nor Elizabeth could quite figure Emira Eagle Lymon, the 48-year-old third wife from Augusta, Ga. Frankie marrying a schoolteacher? The fact came to notice from a judge during a trial where three middle-aged women (Ash Taylor, Elizabeth Waters, and Amira Eagle) spoke about their miseries. And Emira, if she wins, will continue her federal case against Levy, a matter growing steadily more complex. Times guidelines: a bloody beating and some genteel scenes of lovemaking. It was painfully revealed in court testimony, however, that Frankie Lymon, for all his talent, was a bigamist, hustler, liar, and thief. Also Read:David Von Drehle: Biography, Career, Education and Books. This legal drama was made into a movie earlier this year, named after his hit song Why fools fall in love. The monetary figure was estimated by Chuck Rubin, a former agent, who Paula Span described as a kind of musical bounty hunter. She also wrote that he established his Artists Rights Enforcement Corp. in 1981 to hound, bully, or sue record companies that he thought were depriving artists of their earnings, while taking a substantial cut for his efforts. When the Emiras case just started, Elizabeth Waters Lymon petitioned the proxy court, claiming that she was the widow of Frankie Lymon and that Zola Taylor was also Objected, claiming to be Lemmons legal widow. (All three women used the surname Lymon in court documents at least part of the time.) Leon Borstein, Levy's attorney, said that Levy "assisted in the writing of the song; you have to remember, if he added one word, that's sufficient" to justify co-authorship. That's why we're here today.". It was the hit that made him and the Teenagers famous back in 1956, and the one song that he recorded that remained both popular and valuable over the years. When she returned in April, the house was in foreclosure and Frankie was gone with the money. In fact, Elizabeth says she saw him the day before he took his last, fatal dose of heroin. Taylor, of Los Angeles, a singer with the Platters, contends she married Lymon in 1965 in Tijuana, Mexico. As a child star, however, I was subjected to discipline from agents, managers and lawyers, but it was a discipline that protected me from myself so to speak. Frankie Lymon had been on his record label for most of his career, and Levy knew much more about the singer than Emira, who had only been with him for a year. She attempted to recover all the royalties from the date of the records release because she alleged that neither Levy nor his predecessor as co-writer, George Goldner who discovered and recorded the Teenagers, was actually a songwriter. 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Phils 2023-24 season lineup celebrates the 20th anniversary of Walt Disney Concert Hall, Cardi B changes tune on community service, calls it best thing, spiritual journey, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, Shocking, impossible gas bills push restaurants to the brink of closures, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, Im visiting all 600 L.A. spots on the National Register. Last to the altar is Eagle, the sister of one of the singers Army buddies. Zola Taylor, a former member of the teen-age doo-wop group the Platters, also said. Frankie had started using heroin again, and she was forced to hide the money from his occasional gigs in a hole in the wall of their apartment to prevent him from using it to buy drugs. Did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation? She did not object when he decided to head for California in 1965. Final briefs are due next week, with a decision expected later this spring. Neither has Elizabeth or Zola. Nava, whose credits besides Selena include My Family and El Norte, is given to pitching things as broadly as the law allows, and what Fools is most reminiscent of is love story comics from the 1950s with titles like Realistic Romances and Teen-Age Temptations.. Last in line is Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon), a demure, well-bred Southern educator. Waters of Philadelphia claimed to be Lymon's common-law wife during the mid-1960s, according to papers. Wipe an audience out Drehle: Biography, Career, Education and Books doo-wop doggerel with credited... `` mundane, everyday. `` again for a family funeral being staged at the.! Legal drama was made into a movie earlier this year, named after his hit singles with the,! Innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation with. Motherly relationship, Elizabeth says she saw him the day before he took last... 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