Elizabeth Waters claimed to have married Lymon in 1964 in Virginia. "She was speechless, actually unable to talk," reported the attorney, Dwight Peterson. Dr. William Eugene Sexton Age 88 Hephzibah, GA, GA Dr. William Eugene Sexton, 88, husband of 69 years to Martha Frances Greenway Sexton, entered into rest Wednesday, February 22, 2023. Lymon was 14 years old when he began dating Zola Taylor (Berry), the lead singer of the Platters in the mid-1950s. For his part, Rubin's not opposed to generating new income from old music. Did Ukraine use innocent civilians as human shield against Russia in the name of evacuation? Elizabeth may have had the hardest time of it. Her adversary, Morris Levy, was a powerful force in the music business. As Waters' claim went to court, Taylor claimed that she had been sexually active with Lymon as early as the "Biggest Rock "n" Roll Show of 1956" tour. He had the type of personality that would draw people, she said. Emiras case was just beginning when Elizabeth Waters Lymon petitioned the Surrogate Court claiming that she was Frankie Lymons widow, and Zola Taylor also objected claiming that she was Lymons rightful widow. That eventually led to singing on street corners with friends and being discovered at age 12 by George Goldner of GEE Records. That wasn't his style. "If you have any kind of heart at all," she says, "you know that he went through hell.". She knew a soldier., Frankie was interviewed by The Augusta Chronicle while he was stationed at Ft. Gordon. "He had always regarded Zola as his stage mother," Elizabeth explained during the trial. Army discipline, I think, teaches a man how to protect himself. But the case may not end there, of course. Owning the rights to 1950s rock and roll songs meant more in the 1980s than it did when they were hits. His was a wasted life, and he was so talented., Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon said. He was clean for a time when she became pregnant in 1963, and he was deeply saddend by the death of their infant daughter. He had a bad year in 1966. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon told The Chronicle. She called the work "moonlighting" and testified that she was arrested for it 15 or 20 times. He left no fortune; when he died of a heroin overdose 20 years ago, he was broke and troubled, trying again for a comeback he never achieved. He told Elizabeth that "Zola and I aren't doing anything; it's just a motherly relationship," Elizabeth testified. "I can't just sit here and tell the court anything different. He seemed clean during her pregnancy in 1963 and he was genuinely shaken, Elizabeth says, when their daughter Francine died shortly after her birth. Her troubles with drugs and the law continued long after Frankie's death. Artists Rights helped secure a financial settlement for Richard Berry, composer of "Louie, Louie" just before the song was used in a wine cooler ad. During 1965, the copyright for Why Do Fools Fall In Love was changed. Kids didnt know about royalties said Bob Hyde of Murray Hill Records. But Elizabeth's attorneys argue that she and Frankie lived in Philadelphia and therefore established a common-law marriage under Pennsylvania law. Opened 1940 | Named after Elizabeth Waters. ", Meanwhile, Paula Span used both interviews and court testimony to profile each of the widows in her story. Consequently, he left behind a tangled and miserable legal and financial mess along with three wounded women. Gender inclusive room options available. So the trial went forward. If none of the women was found to be Frankie's widow, the surviving members of his family stood to inherit. This legal drama was made into a movie earlier this year, named after his hit song Why fools fall in love. Music Stephen James Taylor. View our. Sound Veda Campell. Macron wont let go off Africa so easily, he is love sick, Canadas Debt Crisis: A Never-Ending Burden Passed On From Generation to Generation, Alcohol tax in Canada: Canadian government is taking a sip out of your beer. Though Navas soapy directing style makes Fools watchable enough in a campy way, the films unsophisticated nature undermines its better qualities. "He had been busted in California again for drugs." They fought and separated continually. Back in Los Angeles, the club where Zola was performing tossed a celebration, with a cake and champagne. -- a classic bit of doo-wop doggerel with Lymon credited as coauthor -- are murky. And that song, which he wrote or helped to write and which will bear his boyish vocal signature forever. Thats why were here today.. (Diana Ross also had a hit with it), "Goody Goody," "Little Bitty Pretty One" and "Im Not a Juvenile Delinquent.". A headstone was not part of the package, however, and Frankie Lymon was buried in an unmarked grave at St. Raymonds Cemetery. ELIZABETH OGLE WATERS OBITUARY. Back in the 1950s, when a star-struck group like the Teenagers finally got to audition for the head of a record company, such matters as copyright barely figured in the conversation. Neither Zola nor Elizabeth could quite figure Emira Eagle Lymon, the 48-year-old third wife from Augusta, Ga. Frankie marrying a schoolteacher? They point to the absence of documentation from Mexico as evidence that Zola and Frankie never married at all. Elizabeth testified that she saw him on that visit, as she had a number of times both before and after his wedding (which Elizabeth says she knew nothing of). Although Emiras attorneys advised her not to talk to Paula Span until the Surrogate Court reached a decision, Anne Pomeroy of the Artist Rights Enforcement Corporation, who was working with Emiras lawyers, spoke with the reporter. Mays Mortuary, 1221 James Brown Blvd. An employee of a furniture store in north Philadelphia, she was in South Carolina for a family funeral. "The only thing {Morris Levy} had to do with it was to collect the money," Santiago says. She did not know the druggie described in this trial. He followed it with Im Not a Juvenile Delinquent, I Want You to Be My Girl and other songs characterized by his trademark piercing high voice. "Sell, sell, sell," he advises. The small wedding party celebrated by getting very drunk, not an uncommon state for Frankie at the time. It was painfully revealed in court testimony, however, that Frankie Lymon, for all his talent, was a bigamist, hustler, liar, and thief. As soon as the hearing began, Emiras attorneys alleged that the other two widows acted in concert with Morris Levy. "Emira's Frankie Lymon is not this drunken bum," Pomeroy says. McCracken said his client "has a strong religious background and beliefs, so I don't think she'll be devastated, but I know she's disappointed to say the least. The origins of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" That suit was suspended while Lambert determined which woman was Lymon's widow. And it was not uncommon for someone -- an agent, producer or record label head -- to name himself cowriter of a group's songs, entitling him to half the author's publishing royalties. The resulting trial was fascinating look into Frankie Lymons post-stardom personal life, and it was covered in great detail by Washington Post reporter Paula Span. In January 1964, he began a relationship with Elizabeth Mickey Waters, from whom he gave birth to his only daughter Francine, who died two days later. She turned to heroin and cocaine herself, she acknowledged on the stand, and to support her daughter from her first marriage, she became a prostitute. "Sell, sell, sell," he advised. Set decorator Jackie Carr. When she recovered, she declared that "she knew it; she'd had faith all along," Peterson said. Visit Sat. Her complaint charged fraud, misappropriation and copyright infringement, among other offenses. View contact information: phones, addresses, emails and networks. Elizabeth Waters is currently single. "He had the type of personality," says Elizabeth Waters Lymon, Wife No. The trial of the three wives went forward, and final briefs were due in early 1988. Elizabeth, now 46, said she had been born again, but she still strove for glamor, her skirt fashionably above the knee, her fingernails long and orange. Zola Taylor Lymon, now 50, one of the original Platters, had flown in from Los Angeles. According to Spans reporting, Emira paid the $2,000 bill. Check places of employment, social media profiles, work history, photos and videos, resumes and CV, arrest records, publications, public records and business records . Elizabeth testified that she did not object. Aside from Waters, the winner of this legal round is Morris Levy, head of Roulette Records, among the defendants when Eagle brought a federal suit in 1984. Frankie Lymon, the rock and roll icon who composed and performed Why Do Fools Fall in Love and died decades ago of a heroin overdose has a legal widow named Elizabeth Waters of Philadelphia. A lot of people say I knew him so long I became like him.. 2010-02-12 00:06:12. The Teenagers tried recording on their own, with a new lead singer. We played down certain things and fudged others to make it work as a film," said director Gregory . Zola Taylor had also been a teen-aged star. He was staying in his grandmother's apartment on West 165th Street. Legacy.com reports daily on death announcements in local communities nationwide. This answer is: Her singing group, the Platters, had been even more successful than the Teenagers, and the group was sometimes referred to as the Four Platters and a Dish. Then, two months after his dishonorable discharge (for repeatedly being AWOL), he went to New York, telling Emira he wanted to see about reviving his career. However, it turned out she had been married to someone else at the time. Why Do Fools Fall in Love is not quite the question asked by this up-tempo, relentlessly cartoonish biopic focusing on the tangled romantic life of an early rock star. I feel sorry for him, most of all," echoes Zola. When she and Frankie fought about it, Elizabeth told the court, he pulled a gun on her and fled. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The fact came to notice from a judge during a trial where three middle-aged women (Ash Taylor, Elizabeth Waters, and Amira Eagle) spoke about their miseries. Debunking the Myth: Is Maduro a Dictator? Her complaint charges fraud, misappropriation and copyright infringement, among other offenses. The opinion dismisses the claims of Taylor, who was unable to produce "credible proof" of her marriage to Lymon or her divorce from her previous husband, both of which she said occurred in Mexico. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. It was not, for long, a happy one. The following month, Zola testified that she and Frankie drove to Tijuana and got married in a tiny chapel. "Kids didn't know about royalties," says Bob Hyde of Murray Hill Records. Frankie Lymon died in New York. Parts of the above testimony and chronology of events were disputed in court. It was engraved with the words, In Memory Of Frankie Lymon Sept. 30, 1942 - Feb. 27, 1968 "We Promise To Remember". She and Frankie began living together in 1962, she testified. The marriage to Eagle is valid, so she is entitled to a fief. A pop record might have seemed disposable before the rise of the nostalgia industry. She also turned to prostitution to support her daughter from her first marriage, to one Charles Phillips, when she was just 16. Zola, in her low-cut gowns, was the dish. Frankie marrying a schoolteacher? She has been in one celebrity relationship averaging approximately 4.1 years. Smalls Mortuary - Eastern Shore. That don't make me a Catholic. "He had such presence, he'd just take over a stage and wipe an audience out. Lymon in February 1967 talked about his life and show business career with Chronicle reporter P.K. And if Zola wins she's also decided to record an album of Frankie's hits -- "I Want You to Be My Girl," "I Promise to Remember," all the big ones. Elizabeth Waters Lymon, Elizabeth also acknowledged in court that she started using heroin and cocaine at this point. He told his family that night he was on his way to a gig. Yet just over a year later, Lymon would be found dead in his grandmothers bathroom from drug abuse. According to Bill Olb, the idea was suggested to Ronnie by Pearl McKinnon, who had recently left the reunited Teenagers. The Teenagers, too, have filed a federal suit saying they're entitled to their share of the proceeds regardless of who Lymon's widow is. When Frankie Lymon died from a heroin overdose in 1968, he was broke and trying again for a comeback that he never achieved. When he died of a drug overdose in 1968, just past his 25th birthday, he left behind a marital history worthy of a man several times his age.