There’s no Deee-lite left for this old manager.
The iconic New York band behind the club classic “Groove is in the Heart” is being sued by its original manager — who claims he got screwed out of cash after first propelling the band to fame.
New Yorker Bill Coleman claims in court papers that he “left his dream job” at Billboard magazine to manage Deee-Lite full time in 1990, setting up deals that “ensured” the trio “financial security for nearly three decades and counting.”
Coleman, who managed the band for just three years, says he was paid his “contractually mandated commissions for over 20 years” — but the payments dried up from 2011 “without excuse or justification.”
“Mr. Coleman helped the Band build a business that would generate millions of dollars for decades after the parties’ management relationship ended in 1993,” claims his lawsuit filed on Friday.
“Defendants have enriched themselves at Mr. Coleman’s expense.”
The Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit names Deee-lite’s three founding members — Lady Miss Kier, Supa DJ Dmitry and DJ Towa Tei.
However, it claims Kier and Dmitry — real names Kierin Kirby and Dmitry Brill — have also been cheating Tei, real name Dong-hwa Chung, by cutting him out of commissions still paid for his old hits.
The lawsuit calls Tei “a victim, not a perpetrator,” saying he was only named as a defendant because he signed the disputed contracts alongside his then-bandmates.
Coleman’s lawsuit says Deee-Lite “embodied the East Village’s inclusive spirit” in the 1990s, and “bridged the gap between Downtown Manhattan’s club, fashion, and hip-hop cultures.”
While the band members are no longer based in the Big Apple, the lawsuit was filed here because the contracts were “negotiated, managed, and executed in Manhattan, where all of the parties lived at the time, and which was the center of the Band’s universe,” the docs say.
Coleman’s 10-count lawsuit is seeking back payments on commissions he claims he is owed, along with interest, attorneys’ fees, punitive damages of at least $100,000 and “all other relief that the Court finds just and proper.”
Representatives for the band couldn’t be immediately located.
