Posted by A Guy Called Gerald has claimed he “never made one penny” from Acid House classic ‘Voodoo Ray’.
The Manchester producer signed to Rham Records for the release, with ‘Voodoo Ray’ emerging during the long, house-drenched summer of 1988.
An unlikely crossover success, it virtually defined the Acid House era and became closely associated with events at Manchester club the Hacienda.
Now the producer – real name Gerald Simpson – has alleged that he did not profit from the single, or parent album ‘Hot Lemonade’.
In a Facebook post he says he “never made one penny” from the project, which was released on Rham Records.
He writes: “It ceased operations in 1992 when Peter Leay, the owner disappeared, after him telling me the bad news about the collapse of the record’s early distributor Red Rhino. That’s when I put an independent management team together so I could continue doing music.”
The producer alleges: “Peter Leay had ran off with what was going to be my future. I had plans to build a studio in Manchester to develop artists like me. In the end I had to sign Subscape with Sony/CBS where I had to focus on the GCG artist project. We found Peter Leay, who had moved on from the music business and we got him to sign my music back to me but all the original money had got tied up in a Merseyside corner shop.”
The issue of rights and payment allegedly continues to the present day, with A Guy Called Gerald writing: “In 2019 the guy who was the assistant to Peter Leay restarted the Rham label not knowing what he has got himself into… His only thought to steal my music? Why would the assistant of Peter Leay re-start Rham who never paid its bills for decades and is now working stealing my royalties through an illegal Spotify page where they use my name and likeness and intellectual property with no permission …… it never ends. I’ll keep you posted on THE CURSE OF VOODOO RAY.”
It’s not the first time A Guy Called Gerald has commented on the payment issue – in 2015 he claimed to have put a “voodoo curse” on his former label.
For their part, the new Rham Records have refuted the allegations. A Guy Called Gerald posted their communication online, with the statement reading: “We are aware of a recent social media post by Gerald Simpson regarding payment of royalties. We refute the allegations made in his statement, and his recollection of events. We have repeatedly attempted to communicate with Gerald and his business manager in order to pay royalties due to him, but he has not so far acknowledged us. If Gerald would like to contact us we will be happy to send any money currently due to him immediately.”
The issue of rights and payments is extremely emotive; vocalist Eddie Johns recently revealed that he has never received any payment for his vocal on Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’, sampled from his cut ‘More Spell On You’.
Find A Guy Called Gerald’s initial statement below.
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