Pleasure Sues Pretty Ricky; Pretty Ricky Lawsuit

December 21st, 2007 by Castina

Former Pretty Ricky bandmate, Pleasure, is suing the group and it’s management group for back pay and release from his contract. MTV News has obtained a federal complaint filed on behalf of the departed singer by his attorneys Robert Meloni and Steve Schwartz.

In the complaint, Pleasure (real name: Marcus Cooper), alleges a number of wrongdoings against Joseph “Blue” Smith — Baby Blue and Spectacular’s dad and the head of Bluestar Entertainment, the company Pretty Ricky is signed to in a deal with Atlantic Records. The group’s management and booking company, International Artist Agency, is also named in the suit.

According to Pleasure, Smith deceived the singer by first acting as a surrogate father to him and also serving in roles that were conflicts of interest for Pleasure and the group, including acting as a personal manager, business manager, booking agent, record exec and music publisher. The suit alleges that Smith “exploited conflict of interests in the competing roles he occupied in Cooper’s life.”

International Artist Agency, headed by Stephen Brush, is alleged to have abetted a number of Smith’s practices, according to the complaint.

Pleasure, according to the information filed earlier this week, is seeking a release from his contract with Bluestar and back pay owed to him. The suit claims that the former Pretty Ricky star has not been properly compensated for his contributions to the group, whose two albums have both been certified gold, pushing more than 500, 000 copies each.

The suit also alleges that Smith used physical intimidation. According to the complaint, when Pleasure began to distance himself from the group and sought out the friendship of others, in one instance, Smith attacked a friend of the singer’s as a means of coercion.

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5 Responses to “Pleasure Sues Pretty Ricky; Pretty Ricky Lawsuit”

On December 23rd 2007, ALICIA wrote:

THAT DONT MAKE NO DAMN SENSE THE WAY THESE PEOPLE TRY TO PLAY THESE PEOPLE WIT MONEY….
On March 6th 2008, ladi p wrote:

i luv u pleasure
On April 4th 2008, quiera wrote:

wats good pleasure i did you wrong
On June 28th 2008, tiffany wrote:

Pleasure is a good singer, no one can take his spot, all them songs he sang they were off da damn change, LOVE YA PLEASURE!!! KEEP DOING U
On July 28th 2008, imani wrote:

i luv the old pretty ricky i don’t know why pleasure left i wish he would have stayed but i still love them but i luv pleasure alot