The signs were plain, she says now, that Lymon was floundering, working only intermittently, addicted to drugs and probably to alcohol as well. His bride was Emira Eagle, an elementary school teacher who lived with her family in nearby Augusta. By now, publishing rights to the song may have earned $750,000, or even more. They also pointed to the absence of documentation from Mexico as evidence that Zola and Frankie never married at all. He was used and misused, and he used others also, she concluded. That eventually led to singing on street corners with friends and being discovered at age 12 by George Goldner of GEE Records. Emira came to New York to arrange for his funeral mass and burial, and she paid the bill -- $2,000. Elizabeth Waters may be entitled to an estate worth $750,000 in accumulated royalties from Lymon 1956 hit and it's more modern iterations, according to Surrogate Court Judge Marie Lambert's ruling. He decided to head to California in hopes that his old friend Zola Taylor could help him get some singing gigs in Los Angeles. 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.. During the trial, the judge even raised the disquieting possibility that none of his three supposed marriages was legally contracted, that Lymon has no widow. Also Read:Antoinette Giancana Biography, Family and Movies. "I didn't want her to hear it on the news," he said. What seemed pretty clear from all the filings is the reason why, 20 years afterward, it had become so important to be Frankie Lymon's legal widow. (Diana Ross also had a hit with it), "Goody Goody," "Little Bitty Pretty One" and "Im Not a Juvenile Delinquent.". He changed the spelling of the group's name on the record label to "Kodoks" to avoid a possible lawsuit from Eastman Kodak, and released their first single, "Teenager's Dream" and . and never miss an insightful take by the TFIGlobal team, This website uses cookies. Cheesborough. Zola and Elizabeth didn't get close to Emira; she didn't have anything much to say to them, either. According to the obituary published Sunday in The Augusta Chronicle, funeral arrangements will be announced by W.H. It was Rubin who, several years earlier, came to the conclusion that Lymons estate was not receiving appropriate royalties. Elizabeth Waters Lymon, Elizabeth also acknowledged in court that she started using heroin and cocaine at this point. Not to mention that two other members of the Teenagers have filed suit claiming they cowrote "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" Ah, Frankie. 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. The Happenings' 45. (All three women used the surname Lymon in court documents at least part of the time.) Kids didnt know about royalties said Bob Hyde of Murray Hill Records. It also dooms, at least for now, the hopes of singer Zola Mae Taylor of Los Angeles, the female member of the original Platters, and Emira Eagle, a schoolteacher from Augusta, Ga., each of whom had claimed in court that she was Lymon's widow and heir. Span wrote that Frankie was a soldier for most of his brief marriage to Emira. Waters provides convenient access to libraries, the . 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. It spent months on the pop charts, led to national tours and TV appearances and bubble-gum cards with the Teenagers' picture on them. 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. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. 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. LYMON REESE OBITUARY. View our. 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. She told the judge that Frankie Lymon was a charmer. 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. She was 19 and sympathetic; she wanted to help him regain what he'd lost. 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. By the time of the trial, publishing rights to the song might have been worth seven figures. "He had the type of personality," says Elizabeth Waters Lymon, Wife No. As soon as the hearing began, Emiras attorneys alleged that the other two widows acted in concert with Morris Levy. 1/28/23, noon until 2pm service at Small's Mortuary. "Kids didn't know about royalties," says Bob Hyde of Murray Hill Records. "She never disputed his role in the creation and authorship of this song," her attorney says. None of the many tracks they made together or separately ever duplicated the jubilance of their early records. At the trial, Elizabeth testified that she saw Frankie on that visit, as she had a number of times both before and after his wedding to Emira, which she said she knew nothing of. Here are 10 you cant miss, Review: A reimagined Secret Garden fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre, Moroccan singer convicted of rape in Paris, gets 6-year term, Jonas Brothers promise Broadway residency will be a walk down musics memory lane, Toxic sex, social anxiety, 90s guitars: How L.A.s Blondshell pulled off the rock debut of 2023, Rihanna making the FCC work, work, work, after Super Bowl viewers file 103 complaints, Brad Paisley drops new song featuring President Zelensky to mark one year of Ukraine war. Check places of employment, social media profiles, work history, photos and videos, resumes and CV, arrest records, publications, public records and business records . She did not object when he decided to head for California in 1965. ", Like the jazz and blues artists before them, the rock and rollers of the 1950s and 1960s were often ripe for rip-offs, and royalties were underestimated or simply never paid. He was the . Lymon is always short of money, no childhood, and, in most descriptions, lacks calmness, but when a small star appears on the stage, he always steals the limelight. Friday, November 06 2020. Mini Bio (1) Frankie Lymon was born on September 30, 1942 in Harlem, New York City, New York, USA. Zola got to be pretty friendly with the first wife. Span wrote that back in Los Angeles, the club where Zola was performing tossed a celebration with a cake and champagne. Morris Levy had not become a force in the music business through fear alone; he was also very clever. ", 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. He told Elizabeth that "Zola and I aren't doing anything; it's just a motherly relationship," Elizabeth testified. 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. 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. A lot of people say I knew him so long I became like him.. She claimed to have . Last to the altar is Eagle, the sister of one of the singers Army buddies. The death certificate said he died of "acute intravenous narcotism.". Whie serving at Ft. Gordon in Georgia, Frankie married again. The retired Richmond County schoolteacher in her years after Lymon was married to Augustan Leroy Bryant. "Just make sure the artist or writer gets his share." "And he was still just a kid when he started on the next wife, Elizabeth Waters," said Nava. Next comes the feisty Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. The following month, Zola testified that she and Frankie drove to Tijuana and got married in a tiny chapel. He told Zola that the new guest was a friend from New York, Zola recalled. Elizabeth Waters Found 1,173 people in Florida, Georgia and 49 other states. An act could rise and fall with astonishing swiftness then. During 1965, the copyright for Why Do Fools Fall In Love was changed. The flyer advertised performances by Pearl McKinnon and the Kodaks, Earl Lewis and the Channels, the Cleveland Still Dubs, and the Impalas. It was engraved with the words, In Memory Of Frankie Lymon Sept. 30, 1942 - Feb. 27, 1968 "We Promise To Remember". "He sort of changed my life for me," Elizabeth says. 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. 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. 1 pop hit for Diana Ross in 1981 and recently turned up in a greeting card commercial. Levy ruled his empire with an iron hand, using both fear and intimidation as part of his business model. "They wanted to impress their friends in school" by being on the radio. His was a wasted life, and he was so talented., Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. ", "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. DONALD LYMON OBITUARY. Production design Cary White. 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. She has been in one celebrity relationship averaging approximately 4.1 years. During his brief lifetime, Lymon became world-famous for his hit singles with The Teenagers including "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" He had the looks; he had the voice; he had the moves. "Just make sure the artist or writer gets his share." Maybe it was the afterglow from her Tijuana marriage that induced Zola to trust a junkie like Frankie to take care of her financial affairs when she left to tour Japan with the Platters in December 1965. "As far as I know, he was a very nice guy. There was nothing in writing in regards to the fundraisers or purchasing the headstone, Olb said. Her complaint charges fraud, misappropriation and copyright infringement, among other offenses. Art director John Chicester. Paula Span, Frankie was addicted to drugs and alcohol and Elizabeth, who was 19 at the time, was sympathetic. Times guidelines: a bloody beating and some genteel scenes of lovemaking. He had a bad year in 1966. Borstein also says that Lymon, who was always pestering Levy for money, sold Levy the copyright to all his songs and that Levy has a signed document to that effect. Lymon was one of hundreds of kids in Harlem who had taken to street-corner harmonizing in the 1950s, rehearsing in apartment house hallways and echoey subway stations. Zola, the older woman, was 17. Paula Span revealed that if Elizabeth or Zola was found to be his widow, they agreed to share the proceeds of his estate equally. Her obituary was posted on February 9, 2023. Donald Ray Lymon Sep. 6, 1964 - Jan. 23, 2023 Lie in State Fri. 1/27/23, 4-8pm at Small's Mortuary. This answer is: Zola and Elizabeth declined, but say they were willing to accept an equal, three-way split. Also Read Inside Data and Cyber Security issue in Barbados Europe plays chess with Wagner's African moves, imposes sanctions In 1986, the women, who were never divorced from Lymon, filed copyright claims in federal court in New York for Lymons songs. "She was speechless, actually unable to talk," reported the attorney, Dwight Peterson. Screenplay by Tina Andrews. "She's a square," Zola decided, noticing that Emira was coming to court in sneakers. Lymon was 14 years old when he began dating Zola Taylor (Berry), the lead singer of the Platters in the mid-1950s. "The only thing {Morris Levy} had to do with it was to collect the money," Santiago says. investigation of the infiltration of organized crime in the recording industry. Lymon didn't even leave a grieving widow to serve as keeper of his flame. Emiras case was just beginning when Elizabeth Waters Lymon petitioned the Surrogate Court claiming that she was Frankie Lymons widow, and Zola Taylor also objected claiming that she was Lymons rightful widow. He was busy preparing for an April 11 trial for extortion and conspiracy in federal court in Camden, New Jersey, stemming from an F.B.I. The small wedding party celebrated by getting very drunk, not an uncommon state for Frankie at the time. He was energetic; dynamic; charismatic. Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? "Some drug users, they rob, they steal, they do everything to sustain that habit." As the lead vocalist for the Teenagers, Lymon (played by Larenz Tate) helped turn Why Do Fools Fall in Love into one of the biggest hits of 1956. Similarly, one of the unexamined factors in his turning to hard drugs was apparently the difficulties caused by his voice beginning to change. The losing widows might appeal. 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. A Rhino Films Production. And it stalls or kills a federal lawsuit Eagle had brought to reclaim control of the publishing rights to his song. She let him live in her hillside house with instructions to pay bills out of an allowance forwarded to him by her attorney. According to Paula Span, her sisters boyfriend introduced them, and soon after, Emira was cooking meals for Frankie and they were shopping for wedding rings. 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