Buddy Holly Archives

The heirs of rock music legend Buddy Holly are suing MCA Records Inc. for millions of dollars in record royalties they say are owed to them.

The suit alleges breach of contract by MCA for failure to honor a settlement from a previous dispute in 1995. That dispute was supposedly settled shortly before the release of the Buddy Holly Tribute album in January 1996. But Kevin Glasheen, the attorney for the Holly heirs, said MCA reneged on its agreement to increase royalty payments to family members to 16 percent. The payments currently range from 10 percent to as low as 3 percent, he said.

”They have engaged in fraudulent activity in an effort to cheat the Holley family,” Glasheen said. ”MCA has grossly underpaid the fair market value of royalties.”

The lawsuit was filed Monday in the 137th District Court on behalf of Holly’s surviving brothers and sister, Larry and Travis Holley and Pat Holley Kaiter, all of Lubbock, and Holly’s widow, Maria Elena Holly, of Dallas.

Holly’s real name was Charles Hardin Holley, but he adopted the stage name Buddy Holly for his music career. He was killed in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959.

The suit lists as defendants MCA Records, the estate of the late Norman Petty who was Holly’s former manager, and the surviving members of Holly’s band, The Crickets, J.I. Allison and Joe B. Mauldin.

Glasheen said the family members are asking for compensatory and punitive damages as well as the return of all the master recordings of Holly’s music on the grounds that the recording agreements relied upon by MCA are ”void and unenforceable and, in certain circumstances, outright forgeries.”

The suit alleges that some of the recording contracts with MCA were signed by Holly while he was a minor and are thus unenforceable. Others were signed by Norman Petty after he had been dismissed as Holly’s manager and, in one instance, a contract signed by Maria Elena Holly is said to be a forgery.

”MCA has stolen certain recordings and sold them or conspired to distribute them without even trying to claim legal authority,” the suit alleges.

Officials with MCA Records Inc. did not return phone calls from The Avalanche-Journal seeking comment.

Glasheen said the value of the disputed royalties is in the millions of dollars.

”MCA is making the records and realizing a substantial income, but they won’t account for royalties properly,” he said.

”Maybe we can’t recover every penny owed to them, but we can get all that the law allows and enforce the earlier settlement.”

Glasheen said the plaintiffs will seek a trial by jury, but noted that it may be more than a year away due to what he anticipates will be an extensive discovery process for both sides.

”Some of the wrongdoing dates back to shortly after (Holly’s) death,” he said. ”I will be interested to hear some of MCA’s explanations.”

Glasheen said he even has a copy of a memo from an MCA counsel commenting about acquiring several Holly recordings shortly after his death. According to the lawsuit, the memo states

“We can face later any problems which might arise with the Estate. I do not think they can be serious.”

By MIKE W. THOMAS
Avalanche-Journal