http://www.gigwise.com/news/39160/robbie-w...ver-song-lyrics

 

 

Robbie Williams To Give Official Apology Over Song Lyrics

 

by Jason Gregory on 03/12/2007

 

Robbie Williams is to give former Take That manager Nigel Martin-Smith an official apology in court over lyrics in one of his songs.

 

Williams is also expected to pay damages and legal costs, totalling more than six figures, at a hearing at London’s High Court on Wednesday (December 5th).

 

The case relates to Williams’ song, ‘The 90s,’ which appeared on his 2006 album, ‘Rudebox.’ In the song it’s claimed that Martin-Smith denied Take That correct tour payments in the 90s, reports the Manchester Evening News.

 

 

Williams had to re-record the song shortly after the release of the album in October 2006 after Martin-Smith began legal proceedings against the star.

 

Martin-Smith, told the MEN: "Robbie has agreed to make a public apology and will pay damages. That will be the end of the matter."

 

Martin-Smith added that Williams denied the opportunity to meet him face-to-face which could have substantially reduced the damages in the case.

 

Contrary to Martin-Smith’s comments, lawyers representing the pop star are expected to read a statement on his behalf at Wednesday's hearing.

 

:o :o :o :cry: :cry: :cry:

 

 

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/new...ops_bitter_rift

 

 

Take That and pop's bitter rift

 

3/12/2007

 

NIGEL Martin-Smith leans back in his chair and looks around at the gold and platinum Take That discs decorating the walls of his Manchester office.

 

He's trying to sum up how he feels now his long-running legal dispute with Robbie Williams is about to come to an end.

 

"Robbie's just upset," he says with a shrug of his shoulders. "They say there's nothing worse than a woman scorned, but there is - the worst thing is a pop star scorned.

 

"You tell a little boy they can walk on water and they think they can. Then, for someone to say they are wrong..."

 

It's no secret that pop svengali Nigel and his erstwhile protégé do not see eye to eye.

 

The rumours started all those years ago when Robbie dropped out of Take That. But this week's apology to Nigel - to be read out in the High Court on Wednesday by Robbie's lawyers - marks a particularly dramatic finale to what has been one of the longest-running feuds in modern pop history.

 

As for when that feud started, Nigel can't pinpoint exactly what made the eager teenager from Stoke, who turned up with his mum for an audition, turn against him.

 

Talk

 

"The Manchester Evening News ran this piece saying I was putting together the UK's answer to New Kids On The Block - that's why he came to see me with his mum," recalls Nigel. "He had lots of talent. I thought, `Let's get his mum out of the office and we can talk'."

 

The act he was creating was Take That, and Robbie was a dead cert to make it with his cheeky attitude. As for the rest of the band, he says it all came together quite by accident during those heady days in 1990.

 

Mark Owen had been picked out from modelling classes after his cute looks had left girls in the class weak at the knees; Howard Donald was also doing a bit of modelling alongside his vehicle-spraying job, while Jason Orange has been spotted dancing on The Hitman And Her.

 

Gary Barlow turned up with a shock of bleached blond hair and a cassette of songs he was touring around miners' welfare clubs in Wigan, and the rest is pop history.

 

A week today, four of those young boys - now grown up and reunited as Britain's most famous "man band" - make a triumphant return to the city that made them for a record-breaking 11 concerts at the M.E.N. Arena, with little hope of Robbie joining for the encore.

 

As far as Nigel is concerned there was a rift from the beginning.

 

Even in those early days, rehearsing in the Peaches Dance Studio in Manchester's Northern Quarter - "it was cheap, £10 a day, cash," laughs Nigel - there were signs that all was not well.

 

"We had a year of dancing and singing lessons," he explains. "I took them to this dance studio to rehearse. They were there to dance but that's when I had all the run-ins with Robbie.

 

"He was out smoking fags and turning up late."

 

Whatever was going on behind the scenes, all the rest of the world saw was a massive hit.

 

Before long, the fab five ruled the charts, thanks in no small part to a semi-naked video. But it's Robbie's suggestions of what life inside Take That was like that really caused the rift and Nigel has little time for tales of hardship.

 

Champagne

 

"He had the time of his life," he laughs. "He had all the girls he wanted - I was organising the champagne for the girls in his room and paying the bills.

 

"He created this idea that I was horrible to him but he doesn't say what it was I did. Did I lock him in a cage or stick pins in his eyes?

 

"I asked my lawyer if I could sue him. He said `no', but that one day he would cross the line. When he did, I said to throw the book at him." Today, with costs and damages adding up to a six-figure sum and an apology coming his way from the man who was, for a time, the biggest British solo artist in the world, Nigel is philosophical.

 

Yes, he agrees, mud does stick and he's well aware of the opinion some people must have of him.

 

In truth, it's hard to marry that almost mythical tough pop mogul image with the chirpy guy sitting having a friendly gossip over tea and biscuits.

 

Full of tales of his two-up, two-down upbringing in Didsbury, above his mum's hair salon, he's still sure he's got the Midas touch when it comes to making and shaping a band. But, after all the bitterness and recrimination, would he really want to do it all again?

 

"Gary is like my younger brother. But I sometimes wonder could I manage them now? Last time they were in Manchester, they asked me to go back stage, but I just saw the show and left.

 

"I gave them a career and they ran with it," he adds. "Then politics comes into it, other people get involved and the wheels come off."

 

:blink: :blink: :blink: :blink: :blink:

 

O' No...not that ugly beast rearing its' head again...... :huh: :huh: :huh:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/new...robbie_im_sorry

 

 

Robbie: I'm sorry

Adam Moss

3/12/2007

 

ROBBIE Williams is to issue an apology in court to former Take That manager Nigel Martin-Smith over claims in a song that he stole money from the band.

 

The multi-millionaire pop star is also expected to pay damages and legal costs running into six figures. A hearing at the High Court on Wednesday will bring to an end a long-running feud between the two.

 

Manchester music mogul Martin-Smith put Take That together and made them into one of the biggest-selling pop groups in history. But after Williams suddenly quit in 1993, Martin-Smith successfully sued him for breach of contract.

 

Williams last year released the album Rudebox. One of the tracks, The 90s, claimed Martin-Smith ripped off Take That over tour payments and detailed how Williams fantasised about gouging out his eyes.

 

He was forced to re-record the song after Martin-Smith instigated legal proceedings shortly after the album's release in October 2006.

 

Wrangle

 

After a long legal wrangle, Williams' lawyers are expected to read a statement in London's High Court including an apology to Martin-Smith on behalf of the singer. It is expected to say that he did not intend the lyrics to be taken seriously or as representative of the views he holds about Take That's former manager. Williams' solicitor, Keith Ashby from London firm Sheridans, refused to comment.

 

But Martin-Smith, speaking exclusively to the M.E.N, revealed: "Robbie has agreed to make a public apology and will pay damages. That will be the end of the matter."

 

It also emerged that Williams could have avoided paying substantial damages if he had agreed to meet Martin-Smith face to face.

 

Martin-Smith revealed: "I told Robbie I didn't want damages and that I would happily waive them if he would meet me face to face to chat about what has happened and put all this negativity behind us.

 

"I said we should just be friends again. But he refused to meet me. I then said I would accept him giving me a written undertaking to read a letter I would have written setting out my thoughts on everything that had happened. But he refused once again.

 

"So now he has to pay me damages. It's a real shame it has come to this."

 

:puke2: :puke2: :puke2: :puke2: :puke2:

Does this ever end...... :unsure: :unsure: :unsure: :unsure:

Does this ever end...... :unsure: :unsure: :unsure: :unsure:

Hopefully it will now.

 

I still want to slowly torture that piece of $h!t.

 

 

 

 

I then said I would accept him giving me a written undertaking to read a letter I would have written setting out my thoughts on everything that had happened. But he refused once again.

What exactly does that mean ??

 

 

That sounds so ridiculous...I can't believe he got away with this.

Robfan in answer to your 2nd part of your post. I believe from my understanding that NMS wanted Robbie to agree to read a letter he would write to him.

 

I think I recall something like that being reported.

 

 

It really galls me that 'it' is walking away with a cool half million.... :angry: :angry: :angry:

Bah I couldn't care less anymore, give it another month and Nigel Martin-Smith will become a no-body once again

^ He always was a nobody in my opinion! That he shall remain... <_<

^ He always was a nobody in my opinion! That he shall remain... <_<

 

Yes but currently he is using a real celebrity (Robbie) to get his name in the papers. :puke2:

He's just a leech! :angry: :angry: :angry: Then he'll probably do something "noble" and donate the money to charity, but then again it IS Nigel Martin Smith so I guess not!

He's just a leech! :angry: :angry: :angry: Then he'll probably do something "noble" and donate the money to charity, but then again it IS Nigel Martin Smith so I guess not!

 

Oh my it'd be aweful if he donated it to Give It Sum

Could you imagine the publicity surrounding that?? Mr "Nice Guy" Nigel donating to Robbie's charity? pfft! <_<

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91248-1295757,00.html

 

Robbie Pays Dear For 'Outrageous' Lyrics

Updated:11:58, Wednesday December 05, 2007

 

Robbie Williams has agreed to pay undisclosed damages to former Take That manager Nigel Martin Smith after using the lyrics of a song to suggest he had stolen from the band.

 

Star was not in courtThe 33-year-old, who soared to fame with Take That before launching a successful solo career, also apologised for the "outrageous allegations".

 

The High Court heard how Williams had accused Mr Martin Smith in the lyrics of a song called The 90's - a rewritten version of which appears on his latest album Rudebox.

 

His lawyer said: "Robbie Williams wishes to make it clear to his fans, and the public at large, that he did not intend these lyrics to be taken at face value.

 

"Specifically, Robbie Williams did not intend to allege that Nigel Martin Smith has ever stolen any funds from Take That or anyone.

 

"Prior to the release of Rudebox, the lyrics to The 90's were changed by Robbie Williams in order to avoid any further misunderstanding.

 

"Nonetheless, Robbie Williams wishes now to apologise publicly and unreservedly for the distress that the original publication of those lyrics caused to Nigel."

 

He agreed to pay the undisclosed damages and legal costs thought to total around £500,000 .

 

LA-based Williams did not attend the hearing, but his solicitor Keith Ashby said he wished to apologise "publicly and unreservedly" for the original publication of the lyrics.

 

Mr Martin Smith was not at court either. His solicitor Gary Lux refused to confirm or deny the reported payout, only saying it was "substantial."

 

He said: "Nigel did not want this to come this far. It is regrettable, because if Robbie had apologised at the outset we would not have ended up here today."

:angry: :angry:

 

 

This REALLY torks me. :angry:

 

BUT, I can't help but giggle at this part:

 

"Nonetheless, Robbie Williams wishes now to apologise publicly and unreservedly for the distress that the original publication of those lyrics caused to Nigel."

 

 

Makes me think of this scene from "A Fish Called Wanda":

 

 

Archie: All right, all right, I apologize.

 

Otto: You're really sorry.

 

Archie: I'm really really sorry, I apologize unreservedly.

 

Otto: You take it back.

 

Archie: I do, I offer a complete and utter retraction. The imputation was totally without basis in fact, and was in no way fair comment, and was motivated purely by malice, and I deeply regret any distress that my comments may have caused you, or your family, and I hereby undertake not to repeat any such slander at any time in the future.

 

Otto: Okay.

 

How funny would it have been had Robbie used the above for his apology, LOLOL!!

Pfffffff .............. is that grinch NMS still in this dimension? :thinking: Guess Rob is doin the right thing, although it isn't easy.

Nobody changed the News Thread to December!!!!! :o :o :o :o :o :o