YAKUZA Frontman's LED ZEPPELIN Tribute Band Being Sued
September 28, 2012, 12 years ago
According to the Courthouse News Service, the lead singer and founder of a LED ZEPPELIN tribute band accused his former band mates of hiding at least $70,000 in band income since he left, and says they stopped paying the band's taxes and used the real Led Zeppelin's promotional materials without permission.
Christopher Klein says he founded Led Zeppelin 2: The Live Experience in 2006, enlisting the services of fellow musicians Paul Kamp, Bruce Lamont (YAKUZA), Ian Lee and Matthew Longbons. The band's purpose was to recreate the "sound, atmosphere and appearance of a Led Zeppelin concert" for fans.
In 2010, Klein says he and the other band members formed a corporation to handle band business. Klein, Kamp, Lamont and Lee each owned a 25 percent share in the company, although Klein says the other owners ignored his pleas to draft formal corporate documents, which would have included formal bylaws, shareholders' and other agreements.
Things began to unravel when Klein became frustrated with the band's "sloppy" record keeping and discovered that Kamp and Lee were misappropriating funds for personal use, according to the complaint in federal court in Chicago. Klein briefly assumed the duty of treasurer and secretary in an effort to correct the band's accounting shortfalls, but got frustrated and left the band in July 2011.
Since then, he says the other three band members have continued to tour and sell merchandise, but pocketed most of the money.
Read more at Courthouse News Service.
