https://www.nydailynews.com/news/na...0190711-fsgbv4jajjgepixryejhsny3ca-story.html
Salt-N-Pepa embroiled in new lawsuit filed by DJ Spinderella
By
NANCY DILLON
| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUL 11, 2019 | 1:08 PM
Musical Group Salt-N-Pepa arrive at the premiere of I LOVE THE '90s The Vegas Show At Paris Las Vegas on Oct. 25, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Denise Truscello/WireImage)
Queens hip-hop trio Salt-N-Pepa is pulling apart in a bitter legal battle.
The Grammy-winning group behind the massive hit “Push It” is now embroiled in a breach of contract lawsuit filed by DJ Spinderella in federal court in Texas.
inRead invented by Teads
ADVERTISEMENT
Spinderella, whose real name is Deidra Roper, is suing former bandmates Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Cheryl “Salt” James with claims they stiffed her out of payments and then fired her ahead of a national reunion tour with New Kids On The Block this year.
In a 42-page complaint filed Wednesday, Roper said she’s been an integral part of the group since her New York audition in the Spring of 1987, at the age of 16, when she was still in high school.
Roper, 48, said she performed on the group’s major recordings and was “routinely featured and spotlighted” at live shows, where “she generated significant on-stage excitement and delighted audiences with her captivating musical grooves and remarkable deejay tricks.”
[More U.S. News] Short-tempered Bagel Boss guy who ranted about dating says he’s the ‘modern-day Martin Luther King’ »
She said the band went into hiatus in the late 1990s after the release of its “Brand New” album, and she was surprised to learn that a “Best of Salt N Pepa” album was released in Europe with her photographic image featured on the front cover.
Roper claims she did not receive any notification of the record’s existence and received an “unexpected” telephone call from Denton in early 2001 saying Denton and James would pay her $125,000 – money she claims she never received.
She claims Denton and James later “duped” her into thinking she would share equally in a VH-1 show about the group’s rise to fame, but Roper says she was left out of the contract negotiation and only received “minimal compensation” for a guest role.
[More U.S. News] The Lone Star tick that makes you allergic to red meat can also kill you with a virus called Bourbon »
According to the complaint, Roper says Denton and James later asked to reduce her “agreed-upon” pay for a Las Vegas Residency Show that began last October, and she ultimately accepted a deal under which she would defer 50% of her pay for the Vegas shows in return for a higher per-show fee for the group’s national reunion tour with New Kids On The Block, called the Mix Tape Tour.
Roper claims that on Jan. 4, just days after she accepted the deferred compensation agreement, she was fired from the group.
inRead invented by Teads
ADVERTISEMENT
Reached by email on Thursday, the manager for Denton and James declined to weigh in on the lawsuit.
[More U.S. News] Final report on 2017 Las Vegas shooting released, with recommendations based on lessons learned »
“There is no comment at this time," James Maynes told the Daily News.
Meanwhile, Cheryl “Salt” James posted a photo on Instagram last week showing a backstage view of the Mix Tape Tour.