Gloria Gaynor, the talented performer behind the hit song “I Will Survive,” is suing one of her former producers for unpaid royalties. Fox News Digital recently acquired court documents in which the disco queen makes the allegation that Joel Diamond and the companies under his control “utterly failed to live up to their obligations to keep Plaintiffs apprised of how their work was being licensed and used, while wrongfully exacting economic benefits they were not entitled to by exploiting that very relationship.”
The 80-year-old claims in a Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit that Diamond illegally claimed ownership of several of her songs, including “I’ve Been Watching You,” “You’re All I Need to Get By,” and “I Am What I Am,” and that her ex-producer owes her $2 million.
She claims Diamond labeled himself as a co-writer on at least one of the songs. The suit indicates, “At no time did Gaynor write a song with Diamond. To her knowledge, Diamond has never been a songwriter.”
“Since the inception of the alleged recording agreement, despite Gaynor’s repeated requests for an accounting thereof, defendants have failed to pay any royalties, provide transparency as to who Gaynor’s music was licensed to or any demonstration that Gaynor’s music was protected. Payments have been made to Defendants in various amounts, but Defendants have concealed and suppressed all payments to Gaynor.”
In a reply to Fox News Digital, Diamond asserted, “I am in the process of retaining counsel. The allegations are demonstrably false. The written contract is very clear and has been in place for 40 years. Sony has acknowledged that I own 100 percent of the rights. Any statement contrary to this fact is defamatory and I intend to exercise my legal rights to the fullest extent.”
Diamond and his companies — Joel Diamond Entertainment, Silver Blue Productions and Ocean Blue Music — are all listed as defendants in the filing. Gaynor is a co-plaintiff with Robin Randall, a songwriter who alleges that Diamond has “fraudulently claimed ownership of copyrighted works owned by Robin and wrongfully, and without authority, entered into licensing agreements thereby.”
Gaynor’s uplifting disco anthem “I Will Survive” defined her career and became one of 25 songs to be part of the Library Of Congress’ national recording registry.
During a recent appearance on The Masked Singer, Gaynor said of the song, “It’s very encouraging to me that I could have [recorded] a song that would be so long-lasting and mean so much to people, not just a song they like but a song that helps them through their lives in hard times in their lives. It’s amazing.”
