HAPPY Mondays singer Rowetta has launched a legal case against a theatre production company after claiming she has not been paid.
Rowetta, 42, appeared alongside Three Degrees' star Sheila Ferguson in The Songs of Sister Act, which played to a packed audience at Manchester's Palace Theatre in February as part of a two-week tour.
But almost three months after the tour ended Rowetta - a former Happy Mondays backing vocalist - says she has not been paid her £3,500 fee from production company Juxtaposed Productions after it went bust.
The London Gospel Choir claim they are also owed £15,000. The show was organised by Daniel Wood, 23, from Astley, Wigan, who was a director of Juxtaposed Productions with his father Geoffrey.
According to Companies House, Juxtaposed Productions Ltd was struck off and dissolved on January 29, two days before the theatre tour began.
It was struck off because details of directors and other basic information had not been supplied.
Daniel Wood filed for bankruptcy on March 26, after Rowetta, who also appeared on X Factor in 2004, launched a case in the small claims court for the money he owed her. The case is now in the hands of the official receivers.
Rowetta, from Bury, said: "Because I live in Manchester people who worked on the show have been contacting me asking me what to do.
"I am getting emails daily from members of the band, the lighting crew, the sound crew, the PA company, photographers, videographers - it goes on and on.
"I have been told that the only way we can get the money back is to take it to court ourselves."
Rowetta also claimed: "Initially Daniel said he had transferred the money he owed me into the bank, but it never arrived.
"After the tour I could not contact him, none of the phone numbers we had worked, and the website was taken down."
Bazil Meade, of the London Community Gospel Choir, said 10 singers who took part in the tour had only been paid rehearsal fees, leaving a shortfall of around £15,000.
He said: "There should be an organisation which can come in and sort out a situation like this, but we are told the only option is for us to spend more money to hire lawyers to take them through the courts."
The M.E.N could not get hold of Daniel or Geoffrey Wood.
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Rowetta prays for theatre cash
May 05, 2008
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Showing comments 1 to 9 and replies | View All
Guten Tag (05/05/2008 at 12:08)
Paul Lynch, Manchester, Manchester (05/05/2008 at 13:52)
Daniel has been unlucky in this circumstance, the show just didn't get the audiences it deserved.
After many years of hard work and imput to the arts in Manchester, he has had to go through such an awful ordeal. I wish him every success in the future and hope that we as a city get to see his outstanding productions again in the future.
Karen Meade, Manchester (05/05/2008 at 19:33)
As a parent of one of the children he charged to rehearse and perform in his shows.
The last rehearsals never happened, yet Mr Wood did not refund the money.
I spoke to the Manchester Evening News about this, and they told me they had tried to contact him several times, but were told to clear off.
Rowetta and the whole cast were brilliant in the Manchester show at the Palace, and it was packed.
I bought tickets after seeing a promotional piece with Rowetta in the Manchester Evening News.
It seems not only Rowetta is unhappy with Mr Wood.
The London Community Gospel Choir and the crew haven't been paid either.
Sheila Ferguson, Rowetta and the choir were fantastic and far from being a has been, Rowetta is a great singer and ambassador for our great city.
I hope they have success in life and in court.
Fio, manchester (05/05/2008 at 20:32)
rtsmith, london (05/05/2008 at 22:19)
None of us were aware that he was busy winding-up his production company as we were about to start work for him on a national tour. We did suspect something was amiss immediately after though, when he changed his phone numbers, shut-down his website, and disappeared off to Australia on a cruise.
I'm very grateful to Rowetta and M.E.N for highlighting this matter, as I'm sure are all the other people who've been ripped-off by Daniel Wood, I doubt we'll ever be compensated though, but at least it might serve as a warning to others.
claire b, manchester (06/05/2008 at 10:43)
Pippa, Manchester (06/05/2008 at 12:39)
Melandra (06/05/2008 at 14:39)
Phil Roberts (07/05/2008 at 13:29)
And as far as these imaginary scarce audiences being somehow Rowetta's fault, that's a claim that simply would not pass the sniff test for anybody who was in the jam-packed crowd at the Manchester Palace theatre. It's an absolutely ludicrous assertion, and one with no connection to anything that happened on the tour that we're aware of. And we were - unlike you, Mr Lynch - actually on the tour.
I am sure that Daniel can cry many crocodile tears about how terribly hard done by he is, but he did not have to mismanage his finances; he did not have to lie to us about his company going insolvent through his own mismanagement; he did not have to go on a cruise around Australia after finishing the tour but before declaring bankruptcy; he did not have to completely break contact with us all after the tour ended and despite repeated attempts to contact him. And, furthermore, he also did not have to charge children a "rehearsal fee" (whatever that is) for a performance which he has now cancelled without returning the money or even notifying the parents.
Meanwhile, I myself have just got back into the black after my losses from the tour, and many others are in a similar situation. Our losses are real too, and as such our sympathy for Mr Wood is very limited indeed. He is a grown man and should be able to take responsibility for his own actions and mistakes. Alas, this does not seem to be the case.