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Reproduced from Sunday Telegraph 15 March, 1998
Starmakers fall out in £1m royalties battle
By Ciaran Byrne
They were the most prolific pop song-writing trio of the Eighties. Now,
Stock, Aitken and Waterman, the men who made a career from launching
unknowns on the road to stardom, are embroiled in a legal row over
royalties earned from the stars they created.
Kylie Minogue, Bananarama and Jason Donovan, the soap star who became a
teenage pin-up, all owe their success to the trio who between them wrote
more than 100 top 40 hits, selling more than 35 million records
worldwide.
Now a High Court dispute over royalties has opened a feud between Mike
Stock, Matt Aitken and Peter Waterman. Formerly close friends, the three
have not spoken to each other for two years.
In a writ lodged last week, Waterman claims that he is still owed more
than £1 million in royalties from records spanning eight years. Waterman
alleges that Stock, Aitken and Waterman, a company in which he has a
one-third share, has failed to account for the money.
Waterman, who acted as the partnership's public face and organised its
business affairs, led a lavish lifestyle at the height of his career,
owning 18 classic Jaguars and Ferraris, which he kept at his 500,000
mansion in Cheshire.
In 1990, Waterman founded his own rail company with Sir William McAlpine
during the privatisation of British Rail but it is believed to have
swallowed much of his 60 million fortune.
Last week, he refused to discuss the court action which comes a year
after his former partners accused him of owing them money.
Waterman said through a spokesman that the action was "a technicality"
which he could not comment on further.
"It's the classic showbusiness career path; make money and fall out
later," said one music industry analyst.
"Waterman always caused resentment because he was so flash and often
took the credit for everything the three did. It was an inevitable split
but sad that they cannot bring themselves to speak with each other."
A former colleague said: "It is true that they all drink in the same
pub, but one drinks in the public bar, the others in the saloon bar.
They refuse to acknowledge each other. It is 99 per cent ego and one per
cent money. But you cannot deny that Pete's vision got their projects
off the ground in the beginning. He had a magic ear - he selected all
Kylie's songs and chose 90 per cent of their hits."
Signs of a split surfaced last year when Stock said: "We used to have
big rows. If Pete was taking more than 60 per cent of the credit there
was only 20 per cent for each of us."
Aitken added: "If you are successful and boast about it, people won't
like you for it. And Pete was always in the newspapers."
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