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Gaga moves to seal court battle between early collaborators

By | Published on Monday 8 July 2013

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga has reportedly asked the US courts to seal aspects of a legal squabble between two of her former collaborators, because papers relating to the case contain information that she does not want to be made public.

The legal battle in question involves Rob Fusari, the producer involved in creating the star’s early recordings and, he says, the man responsible for conceiving the Gaga persona and putting the singer in front of key record industry execs.

Fusari, who was also romantically linked to Gaga at one point, sued the singer in 2010 claiming he was due a bigger cut of the pop star’s income than he was earning from his production credits on her first album. Although Team Gaga initially argued the contract Fusari was relying on in his legal claim was void, the two parties reached an out of court settlement six months later.

But while Fusari may have made peace with Gaga herself, he’s had various legal run-ins with other producers and songwriters who claim they too were involved in developing the singer’s sound, and are therefore due a cut of his cut of her subsequent income.

One of those disputes is with Wendy Starland, who says that it was she who first introduced Fusari to a young Gaga, then still performing under her real name Stefani Germanotta, and that she is therefore due a cut of the money for actually discovering the future star.

Gaga herself is not party to the Fusari/Starland legal squabble, which has been rumbling on for a few years now, but the singer says that some information in papers relating to the dispute is “sensitive, private and personal” and would “inflict significant personal and professional harm upon” her if it was made public.

Gaga says that she has a non-disclosure agreement with Fusari that provides grounds to have the courts seal elements of his legal battle with Starland. Whether the courts concur on that point remains to be seen. If not, you can be sure the press will scrutinise any published papers relating to Starland v Fusari extra carefully, seeking whatever it is that Gaga would prefer remained private.



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