Minister Marion Hall To Pursue Royalties For Lady Saw’s Songs
Minister Marion Hall has hinted that she will be pursuing publishing rights, of which she was allegedly cheated during her Dancehall heydays as Lady Saw. According to the crowned Queen of Dancehall, all these monies will be put into her Ministry, to carry out the “work of the Lord”, as they are rightfully due unto her.
“I’m gonna get back all those monies….and use it for the church,” the Grammy Award winner said during a recent interview with Tamara McKayle on her The Traiblazers Show.
The Room in My House artist then outlined what transpired the day she said she was hoodwinked into signing an onerous music contract, by someone she trusted, who worked with a major record label to which she was signed.
“When I was Lady Saw, I was tricked into signing…so I signed a three-album deal with a company. I did like two albums. They said ‘OK…the next album is gonna be out… I was strapped for cash that day…there was this man (name withheld), and he was a friend of mine… He became my friend. He was working with the company and they had him go on the road with me,” she said in describing one of the key persons who allegedly duped her into signing, under duress.
“So, I was strapped for cash and I asked for some money at the office and this person came out with a contract. The person said to me you know the contract is gonna be up… I wanna sign another one album deal with you. And they pushed him (trusted friend) to say: ‘it’s a good contract man’. I signed that contract because also the person that brought it to me, I trusted this person,” she added.
The St. Mary native said that it was years after that she found out that the contract she had signed had been amended to rob her of her Intellectual Property Rights.
“Can you believe it’s years after I realise they stole my publishing? All of it. They tied the publishing up,” she stated.
“That’s why it was taking so long for that man to come from in his office to get to me. They were putting that thing together. And this is somebody I love over the years…and I remember every time I said I’m going to get a lawyer, they would say ‘you alright? You need some money down there? And they would send a little cheque to another company in Jamaica… You know when I look now at all that…these people would give her small amounts of appeasement cash in amounts such as 1000 or 2000,” she reminisced.
Hall also went on to point out that the contract has hindered her from benefiting financially from many of the uses of her art by persons who have sampled her music in movies, soap operas, and commercials, and from those who have made cover versions of many of her songs, among them Smile with Vitamin C and her Country hit Give Me A Reason .
“Even with Vitamin C -put a smile on your face’…that song was used by Hershey bar. I was in Jamaica watching it play on all these soap operas. Adam Sandler movie, How Stella Got Her Groove Back… Even just recently they used one of my dirty Lady Saw songs in Power with 50 Cent,” she said in pointing to some of the evidence.
“When you find a Hershey bar using your song, all them soap opera…this woman sing over Give me a Reason. This thing was remixed how much times…where are those monies?” she added.
Hall is confident that she will come out victorious in her quest for justice, over those who have exploited her.
“You know what baby girl, I’m gonna tell you what the Bible says. The wealth of the unjust is laid up for the righteous…the wealth of the wicked is laid up for me,” she said.
She stopped short of saying that she would take court action, but pointed out that she needed what was due to her so she can channel it into carrying out her ministerial duties.
“Ok So, I’m about to – you know what I’m saying? Because o need a building. I need a church and I’m gonna place that money in there,” she said.
During her secular Dancehall days, Hall’s 1999 hit Smile, a collaboration with United States artist Vitamin C, was used by chocolate company Hershey’s in their advertising.
Smile had peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100, at No. 21 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40, and was a major hit in New Zealand and Canada.
It was also certified gold by the RIAA for selling more than 500,000 copies.
A 2005 remix Smile 2005 was featured in the film Aquamarine in 2006.