Seal has been ordered to pay his former manager £500,000 as a preliminary commission on the earnings from his first two albums.
As previously reported, former manager John Wadlow claimed that he played a crucial role in launching Seal's career and that he was due a share of the royalties from the singer's first two albums, both called 'Seal', based on a 1995 agreement. Seal contested those claims, but yesterday Judge Charles Gray ruled against him.
Two agreements between Seal and Wadlow came under the spotlight during the case. Some questions were raised about an initial agreement in 1991 in which the manager could have been argued to have exercised undue influence over his then inexperienced client. However the 1995 agreement, which brought to an end the two men's working relationship, was the crucial contract with regards to Wadlow's royalties claim and that agreement, Judge Gray ruled, was perfectly legitimate.
Gray: "I found Mr Wadlow to be a reliable witness. His recollection of events, whilst far from perfect, was for understandable reasons better than that of Seal. I suspect that his involvement in the music business came about as a result of his love of music rather than a desire to make money."
Judge Gray was not charged with the task of assessing the value of Wadlow's royalties claim, merely Seal's liability, so the half a million Seal has been ordered to pay is just a preliminary payment until a separate hearing can assess the total sum that Wadlow is due.