Lymon was discharged a year later, he'd said "I do" once more. Click the "All Sizes" button above to read an article or to see the image clearly. "Frankie wasn't much older, either, when he met the third Mrs. Lymon, Emira Eagle. Best Answer. "He had the type of personality," says Elizabeth Waters Lymon, Wife No. According to Paula Spans story, he was arrested a least three times in New York for grand larceny or heroin possession, and the Selective Service, hungry for recruits as the war in Vietnam escalated, was after him. She was 19 and sympathetic; she wanted to help him regain what he'd lost. By now, publishing rights to the song may have earned $750,000, or even more. According to Paula Span, people sometimes compared Frankie with the young Michael Jackson, who also knew how to combine innocence and knowingness. They got married at City Hall in Alexandria, Va., early in 1964. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Levy declined direct comment on the Lymon matter. Mini Bio (1) Frankie Lymon was born on September 30, 1942 in Harlem, New York City, New York, USA. The fact came to notice from a judge during a trial where three middle-aged women (Ash Taylor, Elizabeth Waters, and Amira Eagle) spoke about their miseries. They point to the absence of documentation from Mexico as evidence that Zola and Frankie never married at all. When you made a deal with Ronnie, it was usually oral, a real old-school type of business person. Lymon in February 1967 talked about his life and show business career with Chronicle reporter P.K. And that was that, the last of the hits. Emira's attorneys have advised her not to talk to reporters until after the Surrogate Court decision. Levy declined direct comment of the Lymon matter. Instead of filling my house with old moldy magazines, I scanned them (in most cases, photographed them) and filled a storage area with moldy magazines. Her divorce from Phillips was not finalized until 1965. Her only marriage lasted 4.1 years. The Surrogate Court judge hearing the widowhood case pushed for a settlement. What's different here is that before the suit could come to trial, Elizabeth petitioned the Surrogate Court claiming that she was Lymon's widow and Zola objected claiming that she was. Watch a performance of "Little Boy And Girl" by Pearl McKinnon and the Kodakshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP6P329DMKY. (All three women used the surname Lymon in court documents at least part of the time.) The flyer advertised performances by Pearl McKinnon and the Kodaks, Earl Lewis and the Channels, the Cleveland Still Dubs, and the Impalas. Though this success was short-lived, Lymon on a personal level was apparently quite the boy who couldnt say no. Family and friends said goodbye Friday to Emira Eagle Lymon Bryant, who. 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Levy ruled his empire with an iron hand, using both fear and intimidation as part of his business model. "Up to a point." Neither Zola nor Elizabeth could quite figure Emira Eagle Lymon, the 48-year-old third wife from Augusta, Ga. Frankie marrying a schoolteacher? DAPHNE, AL 36526. He was busy preparing for an April 11 trial for extortion and conspiracy in federal court in Camden, New Jersey, stemming from an F.B.I. He then called Elizabeth and urged her to join him. He told Zola that the new guest was a friend from New York, Zola recalled. And while Fools ends with an on-screen disclaimer that it is a dramatization based upon certain historical events and the lives of real people, its inability to incorporate key elements of the real Lymon story hampers it dramatically. Why does the rain fall from up above? "He had always regarded Zola as his stage mother," Elizabeth explained during the trial. ", Doo-wop historian Philip Groia, author of "They All Sang on the Corner," attended one of Alan Freed's legendary rock 'n' roll shows at the Brooklyn Paramount in the spring of 1956. Required fields are marked *. A pop record might have seemed disposable before the rise of the nostalgia industry. Like the jazz and blues artists before them, the rock 'n' rollers of the '50s and '60s were often ripe for rip-offs. She also turned to prostitution to support her daughter from her first marriage, to one Charles Phillips, when she was just 16. It spent months on the pop charts, led to national tours and TV appearances and bubble-gum cards with the Teenagers' picture on them. It makes him not only a good soldier, but a better individual. Paula Span reported that Frankie and Elizabeth got married in Alexandria, Virginia, in early 1964. Big Seven agreed to pay Elizabeth an additional $5,000 if the federal lawsuit is dismissed because the plaintiff (Emira) is not the legal widow. The names of Frankie Lymon and Morris Levy were now listed as the songwriters. The Platters. I feel sorry for him, most of all," echoed Zola. Frankie's particular scam, she thinks, was getting married. Zola's attorneys argue that California law makes her a "putative spouse" entitled to share in Lymon's property. 2010-02-12 00:06:12. Each woman suspected he was sleeping with the other, and both were apparently correct. Army discipline, I think, teaches a man how to protect himself. A lot of people say I knew him so long I became like him.. Did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation? Dr. William Eugene Sexton Age 88 Hephzibah, GA, GA Dr. William Eugene Sexton, 88, husband of 69 years to Martha Frances Greenway Sexton, entered into rest Wednesday, February 22, 2023. Hell, the boy had so many needle marks on him, I thought he was a God-damned . "Knowing the facts like I know them, I feel confident there will be an appeal," McCracken predicted. According to Spans reporting, Emira paid the $2,000 bill. Undisputed, however, was the song's impact. She knew a soldier., Frankie was interviewed by The Augusta Chronicle while he was stationed at Ft. Gordon. 1 pop hit for Diana Ross in 1981 and recently turned up in a greeting card commercial. Her published account of the trial and the three women contesting to be named Frankies legal wife and heir was titled The Three Wives: The Legacy Of Love. But Elizabeth's attorneys argue that she and Frankie lived in Philadelphia and therefore established a common-law marriage under Pennsylvania law. 1, "that would draw people to him.". Opened 1940 | Named after Elizabeth Waters. He was a charmer, they all agree on that much. It teaches him responsibility and how to stand on his own two feet. "She's a square," Zola decided, noticing that Emira was coming to court in sneakers. "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" That wasn't his style. Emiras attorneys argued that Elizabeth and Frankie separated in mid-1965 and never lived together as man and wife thereafter, invalidating her claim to a common-law marriage. This trio first meets as a group in 1985 in the offices of Morris Levy (Paul Mazursky), the shrewd operator whose company released Lymons hits. Final briefs are due next week, with a decision expected later this spring. In a matter that grew steadily more complex, Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago, the two surviving members of the original Teenagers, filed their own federal suit against Levy and his companies, with Emira also named as a defendant. That don't make me a Catholic. Zola: "I perform all over the world"), she arrived at court daily in a limousine. A Rhino Films Production. Zola had also been a teenage star. According to Bill Olb, the idea was suggested to Ronnie by Pearl McKinnon, who had recently left the reunited Teenagers. They pointed to the contracts that Elizabeth and Zola signed with Levys publishing business, Big Seven Music Corp. Each assigned the songs copyright to Big Seven in exchange for an advance ($10,000 for Elizabeth and $7,500 for Zola) against her share of future royalties. Costumes Elisabetta Beraldo. I often tell people that Frankie didnt end up living a glorified life. Who owns the rights to old songs matters as much or more now than it did when they were hits. Why Do Fools Fall in Love With Frankie Lymon is more like it. That's why we're here today.". She'd come with two girlfriends to meet her onetime idol. Levys attorney responded that the agreements with Elizabeth and Zola amounted to standard industry contracts. Music Stephen James Taylor. If none of the women was found to be Frankie's widow, the surviving members of his family stood to inherit. In fact, Elizabeth says she saw him the day before he took his last, fatal dose of heroin. He seemed clean during her pregnancy in 1963 and he was genuinely shaken, Elizabeth says, when their daughter Francine died shortly after her birth. That case can now proceed, their attorney says. She told the court that she wanted to help him get back on his feet and regain all he had lost, but that trying to help him wasnt easy. According to the obituary published Sunday in The Augusta Chronicle, funeral arrangements will be announced by W.H. When she recovered, she declared that "she knew it; she'd had faith all along," Peterson said. Frankie Lymon died in New York. In 1986, the women, who were never divorced from Lymon, filed copyright claims in federal court in New York for Lymons songs. Though other people testify in the trial, notably Little Richard playing himself and saying things like I am the originator, the emancipator, the motivator, most of Fools is told in flashback as each woman takes the stand and relates her portion of Lymons life. "Frankie was that kind of person, your honor," she said. The monetary figure was estimated by Chuck Rubin, a former agent, who Paula Span described as a kind of musical bounty hunter. She also wrote that he established his Artists Rights Enforcement Corp. in 1981 to hound, bully, or sue record companies that he thought were depriving artists of their earnings, while taking a substantial cut for his efforts. What was there about Frankie Lymon? Production design Cary White. If the judge's ruling stands, "then we go to federal court and advise the judge that the party who commenced the action is the wrong party," says Levy's attorney in the case, Leon Bornstein. Her singing group, the Platters, had been even more successful than the Teenagers, and the group was sometimes referred to as the Four Platters and a Dish. His was a wasted life, and he was so talented., Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Pearl, who emulated Frankie Lymon with a distinctive sound all her own, sealed the deal for Robinson, and the Kodaks were signed to the Fury label. ", "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" was part of the American Graffiti film soundtrack and album, a big pop hit single and album for Diana Ross in 1981, and had been used in a greeting card commercial. He was used and misused, and he used others also, she concluded. Her complaint charges fraud, misappropriation and copyright infringement, among other offenses. Visit Sat. Frankie, by 1965, had pretty much been reduced to lip-synching at record hops on the East Coast. Heres the glamorous Zola Taylor (Halle Berry), a member of the Platters, one of early rocks supergroups. These scans come from my rather large magazine collection. But Anne Pomeroy of the Artists Rights Enforcement Corp. (which has played a major role in the Lymon case, and about which more later) spoke with Emira at length. Why Do Fools Fall in Love is not quite the question asked by this up-tempo, relentlessly cartoonish biopic focusing on the tangled romantic life of an early rock star. She told Span that she never recovered financially from the loss of her home and still feels "cheated." and never miss an insightful take by the TFIGlobal team, This website uses cookies. Parts of the above testimony and chronology of events were disputed in court. With the trial about to begin and still believing that he had a firm agreement with Emira, Ronnie ran a second benefit concert in the fall of 1985 to raise additional funds for Frankie Lymons tombstone. In lieu of sentencing, Frankie was allowed to undergo another rehab programAfter completing another rehab program and was inducted into the Army in December 1966. They became lovers, Zola testified, one night in Bangor, Maine, when Frankie had won $1,700 gambling with Clyde McPhatter and she had gotten "a little loaded drinking scotch and water." The following month, Zola testified that she and Frankie drove to Tijuana and got married in a tiny chapel. But I couldnt get my hands on him, couldnt find him. According to Elizabeth and several other witnesses, Frankie was back in New York telling them that his marriage to Zola had only been a publicity stunt. It teaches him responsibility and how to stand on his own two feet. Zola, the second supposed wife, got to be pretty friendly with the first. Copy. He left no fortune, but his name was listed as one of the songwriters of Why Do Fools Fall In Love. He is skeptical, too, about some of the harrowing descriptions of Lymon that have surfaced during the legal jousting. Zola and Elizabeth declined, but say they were willing to accept an equal, three-way split. He was staying in his grandmother's apartment on West 165th Street. It was Rubin who, several years earlier, came to the conclusion that Lymons estate was not receiving appropriate royalties. Elizabeth Waters claimed to have married Lymon in 1964 in Virginia. "The only thing {Morris Levy} had to do with it was to collect the money," Santiago says. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. A headstone was not part of the package, however, and Frankie Lymon was buried in an unmarked grave at St. Raymonds Cemetery. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon said. Chuck Rubin. None of the many tracks they made together or separately ever duplicated the jubilance of their early records. They were there in Surrogate Court -- the three would-be widows and their teams of lawyers and witnesses -- for 10 days this past December and January, raking over the past. Wiki User. So the trial went forward. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Frankie Lymon/Wife. What seemed pretty clear from all the filings is the reason why, 20 years afterward, it had become so important to be Frankie Lymon's legal widow. It is in fact three wives who face the camera, one after another, each claiming to be Lymons true love and legal spouse. Rubin's 200 or so clients constituted an honor roll of early rock and roll. The way '50s singer Frankie Lymon is presented in "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is "mostly true. According to Span, Rubin was not opposed to generating new income from old music. Elizabeth Waters Lymon, Elizabeth also acknowledged in court that she started using heroin and cocaine at this point. Also Read:Family of Lorenzo Dominic Lavalle. Next comes the feisty Elizabeth Waters (Vivica A. Elizabeth Lymon says she married Lymon on Jan. 23, 1964, in Alexandria, Va., and bore him a daughter the following year. For him, couldnt find him. `` income from old music were now listed as of. 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