And then he went out and proved it. Goes Out newsletter, with the week's best events, to help you explore and experience our city. Back in the 1950s, when a star-struck group like the Teenagers finally got to audition for the head of a record company, such matters as copyright barely figured in the conversation. 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. And the true imponderable, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?". Her divorce didn't come through until 1965. Army discipline, I think, teaches a man how to protect himself. Your email address will not be published. Cheesborough. The origins of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" Waters Residence Hall is centrally located in the heart of campus along the shore of Lake Mendota. He was the . When asked about his association with alleged mob figures, Levy, who was Jewish, responded: "I've been on Broadway 47 years. 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. Times guidelines: a bloody beating and some genteel scenes of lovemaking. Also Read Inside Data and Cyber Security issue in Barbados Europe plays chess with Wagner's African moves, imposes sanctions 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. 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. Elizabeth Lymon said in court papers that she married Lymon on Jan. 23, 1964, in Alexandria, Va., and had his daughter, Gloria Francine, who died shortly after birth in 1965. Absent the kind of star performance Jennifer Lopez gave in Selena (and that films cleaner, more direct story line), cornball dramaturgy can take audiences only so far and not one note further. Obituary. 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. We played down certain things and fudged others to make it work as a film," said director Gregory . I feel sorry for him, most of all," echoed Zola. Im sure it probably would bring back some good memories, she said of the show that was being staged at the Imperial. Span wrote that she was conscious of her stardom and arrived at court daily in a limousine. So Lymon was already a 20-year-old has-been when he met Elizabeth Waters backstage at the Audubon Ballroom. According to Spans reporting, Emira paid the $2,000 bill. 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. So the trial went forward. Zola has been unable to locate records documenting their Mexican wedding, or documenting her Mexican divorce from her previous marriage (her second). Levys attorney responded that the agreements with Elizabeth and Zola amounted to standard industry contracts. Not that their relationship was entirely maternal. 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. None of whom had ever divorced, was his legal widow and heiress. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon told The Chronicle. He had a bad year in 1966. Lymon signed with both 20th Century Fox Records and Columbia Records, but both deals were short-lived. Span wrote that Frankies relationship with Zola was not entirely maternal. An employee of a furniture store in north Philadelphia, she was in South Carolina for a family funeral. By 1962, Frankies career had been in decline for several years but she had nevertheless come with two girlfriends to meet her onetime idol. "Remember, Frankie needed the money badly," Borstein says. "The only thing Morris Levy had to do with it was to collect the money," Santiago said. LYMON REESE OBITUARY. And Emira, if she wins, will continue her federal case against Levy, a matter growing steadily more complex. Music Stephen James Taylor. Chuck Rubin. Id have killed him, I was so angry, Zola told Span. If Emira wins, she'll share the proceeds with Chuck Rubin and go after Morris Levy. Zola and Elizabeth didn't get close to Emira; and she didn't have anything much to say to them either during the 10 days they spent in court reliving the past. The record company executive has other problems: He was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison for his conspiracy conviction arising from an FBI investigation of racketeering in the recording industry. 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? Elizabeth's lawyers maintain her marriage is valid, which means that neither Zola's nor Emira's can be. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. When she returned in April, the house was in foreclosure and Frankie was gone with the money. They were married in June 1967 at the Beulah Grove Baptist Church, with 50 members of Emira's family in attendance and a reception afterward at the Capri Lounge. Neither has Elizabeth or Zola. View our. ", "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. Yes, the three women are gorgeous and talented, and it is fun to see them having at one another. Also Read:Antoinette Giancana Biography, Family and Movies. 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. 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. 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. The sum, he says, "might have been $1,500. Frankie, by 1965, had pretty much been reduced to lip-synching at record hops on the East Coast. Years later, in the wainscoted courtroom where Lymon's love life was being retraced in painful detail, Elizabeth turned to the judge. Though Navas soapy directing style makes Fools watchable enough in a campy way, the films unsophisticated nature undermines its better qualities. According to Paula Span, people sometimes compared Frankie with the young Michael Jackson, who also knew how to combine innocence and knowingness. Zola's attorneys argue that California law makes her a "putative spouse" entitled to share in Lymon's property. 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. Emira came to New York to arrange for Frankies funeral mass and burial. Ms. Zola got to be pretty friendly with the first wife. Fox as three women claiming to be the legal wife of Lymon and heir to his recording royalties. The doo-wop classic (its earnings boosted by Diana Ross' 1981 version and by its use in a greeting card commercial) was recorded by Lymon's group the Teenagers. * Playing in general release throughout Southern California. That don't make me a Catholic. November 2, 1988 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. These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. Her adversary, Morris Levy, was a powerful force in the music business. Emiras Frankie Lymon is not this drunken bum, Pomeroy said. Lymon and his group followed up with three more hits in 1956 and another in 1957. Neither Zola nor Elizabeth could quite figure Emira Eagle Lymon, the 48-year-old third wife from Augusta, Ga. Frankie marrying a schoolteacher? "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" After learning of this, Elizabeth went to court to request the suspension of the law. 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. But I couldnt get my hands on him, couldnt find him. According to Elizabeth and several other witnesses, Frankie was back in New York telling them that his marriage to Zola had only been a publicity stunt. She plays Lemmons second wife. 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. Production design Cary White. She had a big house in the hills with a swimming pool, and she immediately took the scruffy Frankie shopping for suits and tuxedos. At one point, Levy owned more than 90 companies that employed 900 people.These included record pressing plants, tape-duplicating plants, a distribution company, a prominent New England chain of record stores, and numerous record labels. She testified that she and Frankie had started living together shortly after they met. He didn't mind. 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. Her singing group, the Platters, was sometimes referred to as the Four Platters and a Dish; Zola, in her low-cut gowns, was the dish. Levy declined direct comment on the Lymon matter. A memorial service. "They wanted to impress their friends in school" by being on the radio. Zola Taylor had also been a teen-aged star. 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. Elizabeth 'Mickey' Waters : You see, y'all gotta understand. The resulting trial was fascinating look into Frankie Lymons post-stardom personal life, and it was covered in great detail by Washington Post reporter Paula Span. Best Answer. Levy had been arrested earlier in 1986 as part of the F.B.I. Who owns the rights to old songs matters as much or more now than it did when they were hits. (All three women used the surname Lymon in court documents at least part of the time.) But "I couldn't get my hands on him, couldn't find him." None of the many tracks they made together or separately ever duplicated the jubilance of their early records. Lymon's managers tried packaging him as a solo crooner in a cravat. Final briefs are due next week, with a decision expected later this spring. "The only thing {Morris Levy} had to do with it was to collect the money," Santiago says. Editor Nancy Richardson. 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. 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. 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." She's going to call it "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?". 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. The radio and his group followed up with three more hits in 1956 and another in 1957 Fall Love. 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