Songwriter Rob Fusari Sues Lady Gaga For $30.5 Million
Posted by Media Outrage on March 19th, 2010
Rob Fusari isn’t feelin’ the way Lady Gaga threw him to the curb and went on to make millions and become one of the biggest pop stars of our time. He’s fighting back in the courts with a nice $30 million lawsuit:
Via AP:
NEW YORK – A songwriter and music producer who claims he helped launch pop star Lady Gaga says she squeezed him out of her lucrative career after he co-wrote some of her songs, came up with her stage name and helped get her record deal.
Rob Fusari filed a $30.5 million lawsuit against the Grammy Award-winning performer, saying his protege and former girlfriend ditched him as her career soared.
“All business is personal,” said the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in a Manhattan state court.
Lady Gaga’s spokesman, Dave Tomberlin, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail sent Thursday by The Associated Press.
Fusari had credits on such hits as Will Smith’s “Wild, Wild West” and Destiny’s Child’s “Bootylicious” when a friend steered the piano-playing singer — then known by her real name, Stefani Germanotta — to him in March 2006, according to his lawsuit.
Though he initially dismissed her, he realized she had star potential after hearing her play in his Parsippany, N.J., studio, the suit said. He spent the next several months working with her every day and “radically reshaping her approach,” persuading her to drop rock riffs for dance beats, it said.
As they co-wrote songs such as “Paparazzi” and “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich,” which would appear on her debut album, “The Fame,” he transformed Germanotta into Lady Gaga, a name adapted from Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga,” the lawsuit said.
In a 2009 interview with the AP, Lady Gaga said her “realization of Gaga was five years ago, but Gaga’s always been who I am.”
“I was Gaga from the time that I was 19 through my first record deal,” the 23-year-old said of her over-the-top, avant-garde style, which has captured the imaginations of millions of fans. “I always dressed like that before people knew me as Lady Gaga. I was always that way … I stuck out like a sore thumb.”
According to the lawsuit, Lady Gaga and Fusari’s relationship turned romantic and then became a business partnership in May 2006, when they created a joint venture called Team Love Child LLC to promote her career. Fusari’s share was 20 percent, it said.
Fusari — whose account of his role in the multiplatinum-selling artist’s early career has been told in interviews — says he introduced Lady Gaga to a record executive who ultimately shepherded her to Universal Music Group’s Interscope Records, which released “The Fame” in 2008. The album has sold more than 3 million copies in the United States; Fusari has a producing credit.
But the lawsuit says their personal and business relationship had soured by then and he has been denied a 20 percent share of song royalties, 15 percent of merchandising revenue and other money he’s owed. He acknowledges getting checks for about $611,000 but says that isn’t his full share.
Lady Gaga won two Grammys in January: best dance recording, for “Poker Face,” and best electronic/dance album, for “The Fame.”
Mediaoutrage- How many believe he’ll win?
March 19th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Funny…if it’s true… sue her ass!!!! Damn she is a homely chik!
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March 19th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
He may not but I hope he does. It sucks that the people who write these songs that eventually make these so called “great” artists, get screwed over. Nice to see one fighting back at least.
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sweet_tea Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Yeah, artists have always left songwriters in in cold. That’s happened to SO many over the years, it’s good that he’s speaking up. If he would have went out in drag & sang those songs, he could have been Mr. Gaga & made a name for himself!
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Mrs. 2020VIZN♥ Reply:
March 24th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
lolol @ “If he would have went out in drag & sang those songs, he could have been Mr. Gaga & made a name for himself!”.
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March 19th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
He will definitely win, especially if paper work was signed! Then there’s nothing she can do about it, but pay up! People do this crap all the time, I hate it, YOU work someone in the trenches before they can even think about getting big, they blow up, and now the “big” producers get all the credit, it’s whack and dirty. He should definitely sue her and get all his money, especially since she’s performing all the songs he wrote! ok, i digress, lol
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March 19th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
So this guy admits with sleeping with a shemale, nice going dude.
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March 19th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
I don’t blame him. Get whatever is owed to you.
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March 19th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Sue Sue Sue.
she got the money. she’s in the wrong. go for yours, son.
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March 20th, 2010 at 3:39 am
IT’S CALL PAPER WORK PLAYA.IF HE HAVE NO PAPER WORK HE’S GONNA BE SHYT OUT OF LUCK.
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