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Damages ruling against former Lady Gaga producer upheld

By | Published on Monday 9 February 2015

Lady Gaga

A judge last week upheld a jury ruling made last year that forced one-time Lady Gaga collaborator Rob Fusari to pay $7.3 million to the songwriter who brought the singer and producer together in the first place.

As previously reported, Wendy Starland said Fusari had broken a 2005 agreement in which he agreed to compensate her if she found him a future star to work with. Starland said that it was she who talent-scouted Gaga, hooking the singer up with Fusari in a partnership that kicked-started the pop star’s rise to fame. But the producer had failed to make good on a commitment to share his profits from the venture with his talent scout.

After last November’s court case, Starland told Billboard: “Fusari asked me to find an artist under the age of 25 who could be the female equivalent to the lead singer of The Strokes. I had attended about 50 live performances and searched for countless hours online before finding an artist who fit the bill. Someone who was edgy and bold. Someone you couldn’t take you eyes off of. I only brought Rob Fusari one artist for us to work with and that artist became Lady Gaga”.

In his latest court case, Fusari sought to have the damages he is due to pay to Starland reduced, but US District Court judge Jose Linares denied the request, keeping last year’s jury decision in place.

As previously reported, Fusari previously sued Gaga herself claiming he had been underpaid for his input on her early releases, but reached an out of court settlement with the singer.



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