Billy Joel Settles Up With Digruntled Drummer

By PopEater Staff Posted Apr 22nd 2010 01:00PM

Billy Joel may be pop royalty, but he's reportedly been lax about paying royalties to the people who helped him get to the top. According to Reuters, Liberty Devitto, who served as Joel's main drummer from 1975 to 2005, was never paid royalties for the 11 albums he recorded with the piano man.

Devitto, who played on some of Joel's most popular albums, including 'The Stranger' and '52nd Street,' filed a lawsuit against the singer in May 2009, alleging that royalty agreements made by Joel were never honored.

This is not the first time Joel's music deals have landed him in hot water. In 1992, songwriter Gary Zimmerman sued the singer, alleging that Joel's hits, including 'We Didn't Start the Fire' and 'River of Dreams,' were based on songs penned by Zimmerman.

During the same year, Joel filed a lawsuit against his former lawyers, Allen Grubman and Arthur Indursky, alleging that their law firm conspired with Joel's former financial manager and brother-in-law, Frank Weber, in mishandling the singer's money.

However, despite the acrimonious nature of the suit between Devitto and Joel, Joel's lawyer, Paul LiCalsi, issued a statement today saying, "The case has been amicably resolved." The terms of the settlement have not been released to the press.

Tags: billy joel, lawsuit, music

Comments

(9)

Thursday 22 April

By ChompSamba

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It is my understanding that only songwriters and publishers typically receive music royalties. Is it normal to pay one's back-up band royalties like this?

By mickey

It would seem so, now wouldn't it? Do you think he would have settled with his drummer if he thought he was going to win the law suit?

By Rick

great question

By gd

Royalties are a matter of contract. The drummer apparently had a contract with Joel to recieve royalties as a musician. Some musicians recieve no royalty. it is sometimes a function of less upfront money in exchange for royalty.

By RomyS

Wow, Liberty and Billy go back a long way. I've seen Billy in concert over a dozen times and Liberty was always his drummer. I hope this thing about money, did not ruin their friendship.

Friday 23 April

By tom

No wonder he put out an LP called "Pretender!"

By Kat

Billy and Liberty have been on the outs for years. I saw Billy in 2006 (?), somewhere around there and Liberty was already gone.

Sad. They're old men with a lot of history together. Bury the hacket already.

By patrick

royalties are also paid to musicians who perform on a recording,
it is a much smaller percentage than for the songwriter, artist or producer, but on a big selling album, it can add up to making a decent living, or not, for working musicians.

the royalty is for the sale of the album, downloads, radio airplay, useage in movies or television, etc.

lib devitto is an amazingly musical drummer, his parts often made the song in many cases; i think joel's music suffered tremendously in his absence. they had a close working relationship going back to before either was famous

unfortuneatly, lib wrote a tell all book about joe; that is kind of lame, but maybe is what it took to finally get paid

By boldier

I didn't know Sheri Sheppard played with Billy Joel

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