MATT DRUDGE // DRUDGE REPORT 2002�
VIRGIN RECORDS RENEGING ON VERBAL AGREEMENT TO PAY PREPARATION AND
TRANSPORTATION COSTS OF BODIES OF R & B SINGER AALIYAH AND EIGHT OTHERS
AFTER PLANE CRASH
Sun Aug 11 2002 11:15:41 ET
New York - Virgin Records, the former label of R & B singer Aaliyah, is
reneging on a verbal agreement to pay the costs of preparation and
transport of the bodies of Aaliyah and eight members of her entourage
who died in a small-plane crash last August, TIME reports. Butlers'
Funeral Homes and Crematorium in Nassau, the Bahamas, is out $68,000.
"Virgin has indicated to us that they will not honor the agreement,"
says Loretta Turner, the funeral-home director who has even appealed for
help to the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, to no avail. Robert Spragg, an
attorney who is representing Aaliyah's parents, Michael and Diane
Haughton, in a lawsuit against Virgin and other defendants stemming from
the crash, says the Haughtons were also told by Virgin executives that
they would be reimbursed for their funeral expenses, but have received
nothing.
The record label (a division of British music giant EMI) has been in
financial straits since Aaliyah's death, and the executives who
allegedly made the promises, former EMI chief executive Ken Berry and
his wife, former Virgin vice-chairman Nancy Berry, have left the
company, TIME reports. "We worked 24/7 to get the bodies out as
expeditiously as possible. We had to bring in extra staff. People worked
on their day off," Turner tells TIME. There has not been "one word of
thanks to anyone," she says.
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