He moved into her home and her bedroom. She told Span that she never recovered financially from the loss of her home and still feels "cheated." Yes, the three women are gorgeous and talented, and it is fun to see them having at one another. Recording costs and commissions for everyone from managers to choreographers could siphon off much of a group's earnings. She had insisted that he check himself into a Manhattan hospital to cure his drug habit. She'd come with two girlfriends to meet her onetime idol. Zola never saw him alive again. "If you have any kind of heart at all," she says, "you know that he went through hell.". Zola Taylor Lymon. She was 19 and sympathetic; she wanted to help him regain what he'd lost. ELIZABETH OGLE WATERS OBITUARY. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. with Frankie Lymon, and they have filed their own federal suit against Levy et al., with Emira also named as a defendant. According to Paula Spans story, he was arrested a least three times in New York for grand larceny or heroin possession, and the Selective Service, hungry for recruits as the war in Vietnam escalated, was after him. He was a hustler, a liar and a thief. And it was not uncommon for someone -- an agent, producer or record label head -- to name himself cowriter of a group's songs, entitling him to half the author's publishing royalties. Her singing group, the Platters, had been even more successful than the Teenagers, and the group was sometimes referred to as the Four Platters and a Dish. Family and friends said goodbye Friday to Emira Eagle Lymon Bryant, who. This time his bride was Emira Eagle, an educated, churchgoing elementary school teacher who lived with her family in nearby Augusta. The Teenagers tried recording on their own, with a new lead singer. Elizabeth Waters was a struggling part-time bill collector from Philadelphia. Screenplay by Tina Andrews. That don't make me a Catholic. Borstein, Levy's attorney, says the agreements amount to standard industry contracts. She has never remarried. The sum, he says, "might have been $1,500. "And he was still just a kid when he started on the next wife, Elizabeth Waters," said Nava. The marriage to Eagle is valid, so she is entitled to a fief. He was characterized as The Octopus by Varietymagazine for his far-reaching control and power in the record industry and his connections to organized crime. This trio first meets as a group in 1985 in the offices of Morris Levy (Paul Mazursky), the shrewd operator whose company released Lymons hits. She says he didn't mean to hurt her, and blames his behavior on his addictions. In a matter that grew steadily more complex, Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago, the two surviving members of the original Teenagers, filed their own federal suit against Levy and his companies, with Emira also named as a defendant. "He had the type of personality that would draw people," she said. Running time: 1 hour, 56 minutes. View our. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon said. 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. 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. Get our L.A. Her only marriage lasted 4.1 years. 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. Lymon was only 12 when he hooked up with the foursome that became the Teenagers, but there was an aura about him that the city's doo-wop entrepreneurs recognized. Required fields are marked *. And while Fools ends with an on-screen disclaimer that it is a dramatization based upon certain historical events and the lives of real people, its inability to incorporate key elements of the real Lymon story hampers it dramatically. 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. Frankie's particular scam, she believed, was getting married. ", 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. Visit Sat. "She never disputed his role in the creation and authorship of this song," her attorney says. Emira refused their counter offer. Rubin's 200 or so clients, from the Del Vikings to the Coasters, constitute an honor roll of early rock 'n' roll. If Emira wins, she'll share the proceeds with Chuck Rubin and go after Morris Levy. Celebrity Biographies Frankie Lymon's relationship with Elizabeth Waters ended when Frankie Lymon died on February 28, 1968. 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. As soon as the hearing began, Emiras attorneys alleged that the other two widows acted in concert with Morris Levy. "Frankie wasn't much older, either, when he met the third Mrs. Lymon, Emira Eagle. The female lawyer stated that the battle began shortly after Emira asked the Georgia court to declare her as the administrator of Lemmons Estate. "Emira's Frankie Lymon is not this drunken bum," Pomeroy says. The opinion by Surrogate Court Judge Marie Lambert entitles Waters to an estate that may be worth $750,000 in accumulated royalties from Lymon's 1956 hit and its more recent incarnations. Her divorce from Phillips was not finalized until 1965. Although most of Rubin's cases don't wind up in court, the allegations Emira made are not unusual. He was the . The beautiful granite tombstone that Ronnie ordered weighed over 1,000 pounds. In 1986, the women, who were never divorced from Lymon, filed copyright claims in federal court in New York for Lymons songs. But her secretary and her booking agent both testified that they were witnesses to the wedding. Not to mention that two other members of the Teenagers have filed suit claiming they cowrote "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" Ah, Frankie. 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. Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly. Im sure it probably would bring back some good memories, she said of the show that was being staged at the Imperial. (All three women used the surname Lymon in court documents at least part of the time.) ("I thought royalties was a dessert," says Elizabeth.). Levy declined direct comment on the Lymon matter. "The only thing Morris Levy had to do with it was to collect the money," Santiago said. He took the bus to the post from her familys home each day. Instead, he has posthumously provoked a trial that will determine which of the three women he is said to have married -- without ever scrupling to divorce any of them -- is really his widow and heir. She turned to heroin and cocaine herself, she acknowledged on the stand, and to support her daughter from her first marriage, she became a prostitute. 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. She met Frankie when he was 20-years-old, backstage at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. She'll use a 16-piece band and her own group, Zola Taylor's Platters, as backup singers. It was also Rubin who located Emira, put her in touch with an attorney, helped line up witnesses and documentation. Span wrote that Elizabeth called her work as a prostitute moonlighting in her testimony, and that Elizabeth said she had been arrested for it 15 or 20 times. The way '50s singer Frankie Lymon is presented in "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is "mostly true. According to Paula Span, people sometimes compared Frankie with the young Michael Jackson, who also knew how to combine innocence and knowingness. Last in line is Emira Eagle (Lela Rochon), a demure, well-bred Southern educator. Copyright document.write(new Date().getFullYear()), Michigan Rock and Roll Legends. 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. He left no fortune; when he died of a heroin overdose 20 years ago, he was broke and troubled, trying again for a comeback he never achieved. 1/28/23, noon until 2pm service at Small's Mortuary. A lot of people say I knew him so long I became like him.. Lymon's 1967 marriage to Eagle, marked by a ceremony at the Beulah Grove Baptist Church, was invalid, according to the opinion, because he was still married to Waters. Neither Zola nor Elizabeth could quite. This legal drama was made into a movie earlier this year, named after his hit song Why fools fall in love. He was told, after he raised the money, that she didnt want the headstone for the grave and that he wasnt authorized to put it on there.. 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. Emiras attorneys argued that Elizabeth and Frankie separated in mid-1965 and never lived together as man and wife thereafter, invalidating her claim to a common-law marriage. As Waters' claim went to court, Taylor claimed that she had been sexually active with Lymon as early as the "Biggest Rock "n" Roll Show of 1956" tour. "Kids didn't know about royalties," says Bob Hyde of Murray Hill Records. Friday, November 06 2020. The losing widows might appeal. He told his family that night he was on his way to a gig. Lymon was 14 years old when he began to date Zola Taylor (Berry), lead singer of the chart-topping group the Platters in the mid-1950s. Who owns the rights to old songs matters as much or more now than it did when they were hits. Though Navas soapy directing style makes Fools watchable enough in a campy way, the films unsophisticated nature undermines its better qualities. And it stalls or kills a federal lawsuit Eagle had brought to reclaim control of the publishing rights to his song. He was energetic; dynamic; charismatic. 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. This answer is: Ash Taylor, Elizabeth Waters, and Amira Eagle reached out to Morris Levy, a music entrepreneur who retained Lymons copyrights and copyrights, claiming to be Lymons legal widow; Lymon didnt bother to divorce any of them. Believing that she had the stronger case, Big Seven agreed to pay Elizabeth an additional $5,000 if the federal lawsuit was dismissed because the plaintiff (Emira) was determined to not be the legal widow. Ten years after his initial success, however, he was wearing an Army uniform as a private at Fort Gordon. 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. It was also not uncommon for an agent, producer, or record label head to name himself co-writer of a groups songs, thereby entitling him to half of the authors publishing royalties. Best Answer. They fought and separated continually. It was engraved with the words, In Memory Of Frankie Lymon Sept. 30, 1942 - Feb. 27, 1968 "We Promise To Remember". Her obituary was posted on February 9, 2023. According to Spans story, Frankie moved into Zolas home and her bedroom. 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. In lieu of sentencing, Frankie was allowed to undergo another rehab programAfter completing another rehab program and was inducted into the Army in December 1966. Zola got to be pretty friendly with the first wife. Like the jazz and blues artists before them, the rock 'n' rollers of the '50s and '60s were often ripe for rip-offs. Visit our 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. Emira refused. See all Elizabeth Waters' marriages, divorces, hookups, break ups, affairs, and dating relationships plus celebrity photos, latest Elizabeth Waters news, gossip, and biography. Emira Lymon, who was appointed administrator of his estate in Georgia in 1973, sued her dead husband`s record company in 1984 for $500,000 in royalties. According to Spans reporting, Emira paid the $2,000 bill. Zola and Elizabeth didn't get close to Emira; she didn't have anything much to say to them, either. 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 Emira came to New York to arrange for his funeral mass and burial, and she paid the bill -- $2,000. Emiras Frankie Lymon is not this drunken bum, Pomeroy said. DAPHNE, AL 36526. Though Waters was not yet divorced from her first husband when she and Frankie Lymon married in a civil ceremony in Alexandria in 1964, their union became valid when that divorce became final in 1965, the judge found. "Remember, Frankie needed the money badly," Borstein said. Frankie, by 1965, had pretty much been reduced to lip-synching at record hops on the East Coast. ", Doo-wop historian Philip Groia, author of "They All Sang on the Corner," attended one of Alan Freed's legendary rock 'n' roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount in the spring of 1956. "I didn't want her to hear it on the news," he said. Waters, who on the witness stand acknowledged a long struggle with drugs and prostitution during her tempestuous relationship with the onetime star, got the news from her attorney Monday night. When you made a deal with Ronnie, it was usually oral, a real old-school type of business person. 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. 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. Her complaint charges fraud, misappropriation and copyright infringement, among other offenses. Editor Nancy Richardson. Paula Span revealed that if Elizabeth or Zola was found to be his widow, they agreed to share the proceeds of his estate equally. He lived for 26 years, was a star for one and a half of them, and left behind a miserable financial and legal mess and three wounded women. Check places of employment, social media profiles, work history, photos and videos, resumes and CV, arrest records, publications, public records and business records . Lymon in February 1967 talked about his life and show business career with Chronicle reporter P.K. As a result, they fought and separated numerous times. Lymon was discharged a year later, he'd said "I do" once more. 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