McCracken said his client "has a strong religious background and beliefs, so I don't think she'll be devastated, but I know she's disappointed to say the least. Emira's attorneys have alleged that the other two widows "acted in concert" with Levy, and point to contracts that Zola and Elizabeth each signed with Levy's publishing business, Big Seven Music Corp. Each assigned the song's copyright to Big Seven in exchange for an advance ($10,000 in Elizabeth's case, $7,500 in Zola's) against her share of future royalties. Army discipline, I think, teaches a man how to protect himself. Zola, the second supposed wife, got to be pretty friendly with the first. He figured that once the case was over there would be no problem," Olb recalled. In 1984, as the original copyright term of Why Do Fools Fall In Love was expiring, Emira Eagle Lymon brought suit in the U.S. District Court in New York against Morris Levy, his record label, and his publishing company. Family and friends said goodbye Friday to Emira Eagle Lymon Bryant, who. Times guidelines: a bloody beating and some genteel scenes of lovemaking. When trading Miss Thing"-type insults doesnt clear the air, a lawsuit to determine the identity of the true widow and heir to Lymons royalties becomes inevitable. Pearl, who emulated Frankie Lymon with a distinctive sound all her own, sealed the deal for Robinson, and the Kodaks were signed to the Fury label. Paula Span revealed that if Elizabeth or Zola was found to be his widow, they agreed to share the proceeds of his estate equally. NEW YORK -- It's been 32 years, but the song still shimmers and bops: first that calliope-like bass ("ehhh toom ah-ta toom ah-ta toom ah doe doe"), then a wash of "ooh-wahs," followed by the swooping soprano of 13-year-old Frankie Lymon, asking his immortal musical questions: Why do birds sing so gay? Mini Bio (1) Frankie Lymon was born on September 30, 1942 in Harlem, New York City, New York, USA. He had a bad year in 1966. William McCracken, who represents Emira Eagle, called her at the elementary school where she teaches. She'd come with two girlfriends to meet her onetime idol. And if he put others through hell too, well, didn't he say, right in that song, that love is a losing game? 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. Director Gregory Nava. Visit Sat. Music Stephen James Taylor. "Frankie had a very good appetite for the best of life," she says. Emira refused. A pop record seemed disposable then, before the rise of the nostalgia industry. 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. Last to the altar is Eagle, the sister of one of the singers Army buddies. "He had such presence, he'd just take over a stage and wipe an audience out. Borstein, Levy's attorney, says the charges are "complete speculation; there's absolutely no proof.". Im sure it probably would bring back some good memories, she said of the show that was being staged at the Imperial. She has been in one celebrity relationship averaging approximately 4.1 years. Only after the trial to expose his wife was revealed, Fox was appointed as the producer. Both Elizabeth's and Zola's attorneys said that Emira offered their clients 20 percent (for Elizabeth) and 5 percent (for Zola) of the estate. Elizabeth Waters Found 1,173 people in Florida, Georgia and 49 other states. The small wedding party celebrated by getting very drunk, not an uncommon state for Frankie at the time. "He was honest, completely honest," Elizabeth insisted, "Up to a point." Dr. William Eugene Sexton Age 88 Hephzibah, GA, GA Dr. William Eugene Sexton, 88, husband of 69 years to Martha Frances Greenway Sexton, entered into rest Wednesday, February 22, 2023. She's going to call it "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?". 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. The female lawyer stated that the battle began shortly after Emira asked the Georgia court to declare her as the administrator of Lemmons Estate. "He had been busted in California again for drugs. What's different here is that before the suit could come to trial, Elizabeth petitioned the Surrogate Court claiming that she was Lymon's widow and Zola objected claiming that she was. Frankie, bouncing at the mike, was "this adorable little boy, with this little smile, the little suit; you wanted to take him home All I remember was the girls screaming about how cute he was.". She also turned to prostitution to support her daughter from her first marriage, to one Charles Phillips, when she was just 16. DONALD LYMON OBITUARY. For his part, Rubin's not opposed to generating new income from old music. Running time: 1 hour, 56 minutes. He is skeptical, too, about some of the harrowing descriptions of Lymon that have surfaced during the legal jousting. Back in Los Angeles, the club where Zola was performing tossed a celebration, with a cake and champagne. 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. Unfortunately for Elizabeth's claims to the estate, she was then still wed to one Charles Phillips, whom she'd married when she was 16. Emira Eagle Lymon Bryant, the legally declared widow of '50s teenage rock star Frankie Lymon, died Saturday at AU Medical Center. Also Read Inside Data and Cyber Security issue in Barbados Europe plays chess with Wagner's African moves, imposes sanctions One of his records with the Teenagers was called "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent," but for all the conviction in his sweet young voice, he probably was one. I loved him like a brother.". "The only thing {Morris Levy} had to do with it was to collect the money," Santiago says. 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. People sometimes compare him with the young Michael Jackson, who also knew how to combine innocence and knowingness. With the trial about to begin and still believing that he had a firm agreement with Emira, Ronnie ran a second benefit concert in the fall of 1985 to raise additional funds for Frankie Lymons tombstone. Next comes the feisty Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. According to the obituary published Sunday in The Augusta Chronicle, funeral arrangements will be announced by W.H. The court found that "the decedent and Elizabeth {Waters} have satisfied the requirements of common law marriage in the State of Pennsylvania." I cant just sit here and tell the court anything different. Elizabeth may have had the hardest time of it. "Frankly, we do not believe that the claims set forth in the federal court case have merit," says Terrance McKnight, one of Zola's attorneys. He was energetic; dynamic; charismatic. I know some of these characters, and some I like very muchI knew Cardinal Spellman, too. Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 - February 27, 1968) was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll doo-wop group The Teenagers.The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid-teens. The Surrogate Court judge hearing the widowhood case pushed for a settlement. She met Frankie when he was 20-years-old, backstage at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. Frankie's particular scam, she believed, was getting married. US fails miserably against Russia at the crucial UN Vote. Owning the rights to 1950s rock and roll songs meant more in the 1980s than it did when they were hits. They point to the absence of documentation from Mexico as evidence that Zola and Frankie never married at all. With the waters thoroughly muddied, the federal judge stayed Emira's lawsuit in 1986 pending determination of which woman was Lymon's widow. co-starring Halle Barry, Lela Rochon and Vivica A. Her sister's boyfriend introduced them; soon, Emira was cooking meals for Frankie and they were shopping for wedding rings. There was nothing in writing in regards to the fundraisers or purchasing the headstone, Olb said. The only child he is known to have fathered died hours after her birth. By 1964 he was using again, and she was hiding the money from his occasional gigs in a hole in the wall of their apartment to keep him from buying heroin with it. Her complaint charges fraud, misappropriation and copyright infringement, among other offenses. Lymon didn't even leave a grieving widow to serve as keeper of his flame. Frankie Lymon/Wife. View our. Morris Levy had not become a force in the music business through fear alone; he was also very clever. Eagle claimed that Levy had committed fraud and copyright infringement by crediting himself as coauthor of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (a not uncommon practice in the history of early rock 'n' roll). Their affair continued off and on for several years. She and Frankie were riding a tour bus together in 1956, doing 81 one-nighters with a rock 'n' roll cavalcade that included Chuck Berry, the Coasters, the Penguins and Bo Diddley, as well as the Platters and the Teenagers. Parts of the above testimony and chronology of events were disputed in court. The following month, Zola testified that she and Frankie drove to Tijuana and got married in a tiny chapel. It makes him not only a good soldier, but a better individual. The trial of the three wives went forward, and final briefs were due in early 1988. Elizabeth, 43, of Philadelphia, claims she married Lymon in Alexandria, Va., in 1964, and that the couple had a child who died. When she recovered, she declared that "she knew it; she'd had faith all along," Peterson said. "He had been busted in California again for drugs." As Water's claim went to court, Zola Taylor ex-member of the Platters, claimed that she had been sexually active with Lymon as early as the "Biggest Rock "n" Roll Show of 1956" tour. ("I thought royalties was a dessert," says Elizabeth.). Frankie could fool you, he could fool me, Frankie could fool God. He decided to head to California in hopes that his old friend Zola Taylor could help him get some singing gigs in Los Angeles. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. 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. Though this success was short-lived, Lymon on a personal level was apparently quite the boy who couldnt say no. No one could have foreseen that the people who grew up with the music would refuse to relinquish it, and the songs would be repeatedly recycled into movie soundtracks and albums, cover versions, oldies compilations, and television commercials. She plays Lemmons second wife. Emira Eagle Lymon. Levy declined direct comment on the Lymon matter. Then he called Elizabeth and urged her to join him. They fought and separated continually. Also Read:Uplift Suasion: the notion to change racism, Your email address will not be published. 507 residents | Coed by wing | Single and double rooms. Next comes the feisty Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Years later, in the wainscoted courtroom where Lymon's love life was being retraced in painful detail, Elizabeth turned to the judge. He once told a magazine interviewer that he'd been a pimp since he was 10. Required fields are marked *. With the matter now in a confused state, the federal judge stayed Emiras lawsuit. 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