The real Platters stand up to the impostors
Have you heard this one before?
The Platters are in town.
Oh really? Which ones — the New England version, the group from New York, or the guys from Vegas?
As the lone survivor of the original vocal quintet, Herb Reed has heard all the jokes. However, after years of protracted court battles, Reed is now, according to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the sole owner of the rights to The Platters’ trademark.
Reed and countless other authentic musical group members’ rights are supported by Massachusetts and more than 25 states who have voted into law “The Truth-in-Music Advertising Act.” State Sen. Marc Pacheco, a Democrat from Taunton, is a champion of the cause in this state.
The bill effectively bans impostors from stealing a band’s identity. It basically requires any performing group to include at least one member of the original recording band or those with clear rights to the group’s name.
This was recently made evident to Troy Siebels, executive director of the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, after receiving calls from Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office informing him that the venue could be in violation of the Truth-in-Music legislation.
As of last week, the theater had The Platters opening a show with The Harry James Orchestra on Saturday, Aug. 23. Siebels says he had no idea that they were not the real deal.
“We had never run into this before. I was kind of unprepared to deal with it and wasn’t sure what to do. It’s not our event. It was brought to us by a promoter. Honestly, given that it was another promoter, it didn’t occur to me to question it.”
The show was brought to the Hanover by Fred Taylor, a veteran promoter, best known locally for booking shows at Sir Morgan’s Cove and most recently at Sculler’s Jazz Club in Cambridge.
“He sent us the photo and the name of the act,” Siebels says. “We didn’t think to say, ‘prove it.’ We have called Fred and told him he needs to call the AG’s Office and work this out.”
A spokeswoman for the AG’s Office says it has responded to the Hanover complaints about The Platters and the matter has been resolved without requiring legal action.
“The manager for Herb Reed contacted our office,” she said. “We were able to quickly resolve the situation with the Hanover Theater. They agreed to take down the billing for the imitation Platters off of their Web site.”
Siebels says, “They said we can bill it as a ‘Platters tribute.’ So we made it say that, thinking that would be the best way to try and keep the promoter happy and stay within the Truth-in-Music guidelines.”
The AG’s Office was called by Reed’s manager, Fred Balboni.
“I got an alert that The Platters were performing in Worcester,” he says. “I immediately went to the Web site and saw Herb’s picture. I was like, ‘What?!’ Not withstanding all of the legalities involved, Herb is a resident of Massachusetts (Arlington). So to have something like this occur in his own backyard is a bit troubling.”
Balboni says he fired off an e-mail to the promoter when he found out that it was Taylor.
“I was extremely surprised that he was engaged in activities such as this, considering two years ago we had a successful engagement with him at Scullers. He wrote back and apologized and said it was the theater’s fault. They were exuberant. They went on the Web site and took Herb’s picture.”
Taylor did not return our phone calls.
Balboni says the issue with the Hanover has been “adequately resolved” and gives them high marks for “trying to be good citizens.”
“They did the right thing,” Balboni adds. “They have been great in terms of responding to this and getting in compliance with the law. From what I understand they have been working back and forth with the AG’s Office. It’s an ongoing investigation as far as the AG is concerned.”
Family members and former singers around the world have been claiming rights to The Platters’ name for years.
Siebels says, “My understanding is that two of the members of the group are from ‘The Platters,’ but not ‘Herb Reed and The Platters.’” o
