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Pretty Ricky Leaving Member Spurs Litigation

By Billy Shields
January 28, 2008

After its first two releases went gold, Miami rap-R&B upstart Pretty Ricky claims one member ' Pleasure ' broke the rules by doing what music stars like Beyonce Knowles and Justin Timberlake have done in the past: going solo. The group's Fort Lauderdale, FL-based management company Bluestar Entertainment International is suing Pleasure, whose real name is Marcus Cooper, for performing outside the group.

'Someone started whispering into Marcus's ear, saying, 'You're the star of the group and you should split away,” said Bluestar attorney Richard Wolfe of Wolfe & Goldstein in Miami. 'But he has a contract with us. There's a way to do it, and there's a way not to do it.'

Bluestar's lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court against Cooper, spawned a detailed counter-suit after being removed to federal court in Miami. Cooper is suing Bluestar, group manager Joseph 'Blue' Smith Sr., and other companies Cooper alleges are under Smith's control. 'The annals of the music recording industry are littered with accounts of unscrupulous promoters and managers preying on young, talented artists who lack the experience to realize the value of the rights they are signing away,' according to Cooper's counter suit.

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