Kid Rock has filed a lawsuit against a man who claims the Detroit rap rocker signed a contract with him in 1989, agreeing to split the proceeds of all future record album sales.
Kid Rock, 30, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, filed suit against Alvin Williams in U.S. District Court this month, claiming that a purported Feb. 10, 1989, contract is a fraud.
“This is completely bogus,” said William Horton, Kid Rock’s Troy-based attorney. “Where were they for 12 years?”
Kid Rock grew up in Romeo, Mich., and worked as a disc jockey in the Detroit area before starting his own record label, Top Dog records. He borrowed money from friends to finance his records, and sold them out of the trunk of his car before Atlantic Records signed him to a deal in 1997.
Horton said Kid Rock’s involvement with Williams was limited to his role as an investor in one album in 1989 released on the Jive label. Since then, they have had no business relationship, Horton told The Detroit News for a story Friday.
Gregory Reed, an attorney for Williams, said his client and two other Detroit men spent $100,000 to fund Kid Rock’s career, and had no less than six signed contracts with the artist.
Asked why Williams hadn’t sought money in the last 12 years, Reed said Williams had previously hired an attorney, but never filed a lawsuit.
