‘I Will Survive’ singer Gloria Gaynor sues ex-producer for $2 million
This disco diva claims her ex-producer is doing the hustle.
Music legend Gloria Gaynor, best known for the late 1970s global anthem “I Will Survive,” claims she’s owed $2 million after her former producer, Joel Diamond, exploited her copyrights for decades without properly paying her.
Diamond has allegedly wrongly claimed ownership of eight of Gaynor’s tunes, including “I’ve Been Watching You,” “You’re All I Need to Get By” and “I Am What I Am,” as per a record deal the two signed in 1983, Gaynor said in a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit.
The two-time Grammy winner and Newark, NJ, native will not lay down over the alleged fraud.
Diamond even had the stones to register himself a co-author “of at least one song,” Gaynor said in court papers, adding, “At no time did Gaynor write a song with Diamond. To her knowledge, Diamond has never been a songwriter.
“Since the inception of the alleged recording agreement, despite Gaynor’s repeated requests for an accounting thereof, defendants have failed to pay any royalties, provide transparency as to who Gaynor’s music was licensed to or any demonstration that Gaynor’s music was protected,” she said in the litigation.
Gaynor, 80, and co-plaintiff Robin Randall, a songwriter who has a separate copyright beef with Diamond, are seeking royalties owed and for the court to terminate their respective contracts with Diamond.
Randall alleges Diamond pressured her ailing mother and co-writer, Judithe Randall, in 2000 into signing over ownership of songs the duo composed without her knowledge. The elder Randall died in 2002.
according to court papers. Diamond is now a defendant in the singer’s lawsuit. Getty Images
in the National Recording Registry in 2016. ullstein bild via Getty Images
The named defendants in the lawsuit, which alleges breach of contract, copyright infringement, and fraud include Diamond-controlled companies Joel Diamond Entertainment, Silver Blue Productions, and Ocean Blue Music.
“Gloria Gaynor and Robin Randall are prominent examples of the exploitation and abuse suffered by legacy music artists at the hands of industry insiders and record companies,” their attorney, Vivian R. Drohan, told The Post, adding, “We fully expect to obtain justice for our clients.”
Diamond called the allegations “demonstrably false.”
“The written contact is very clear and has been in place for 40 years. Sony has acknowledged that I own 100 percent of the rights. Any statement contrary to this fact is defamatory and I intend to exercise my legal rights to the fullest extent,” he added.
“I Will Survive” — which was originally released as the B-side to Gaynor’s cover of the Righteous Brothers’ “Substitute” — went on to become her first and only No. 1 hit.
She revealed the pain behind the tune in a documentary that dropped last year.
The song’s legacy was secured when it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2016.
