Rihanna Broke As a Joke? Fires Manager Citing Theft!
Now let me just say that some of this comes as no surprise. I wouldn’t doubt if all of it were true. Whudat had this long tirade by Rihanna’s former manager, Patricia Williams. According to Williams, Rihanna fired her after she discovered she only had $20,000 to her name and claimed Williams was stealin from her. In an effort to clear her name, Williams “cleared” the air and by “clearing the air” I mean airing all of Rihanna’s dirty laundry out. I can’t say any of this is true, but stranger things have happened in the music industry.
“I’m a professional Business Manager, I have a staff of more than a dozen, I have worked for many high profile actors, musicians and multi-million dollar corporations. Why would I steal from Rihanna? I showed her all the paperwork and tried to explain to her the circumstances but she wouldn’t listen. She called me all sorts of horrible names and stormed off. I now feel compelled to share with the world the background story as I will not allow my name to be slandered”
The Barbados born singer has had four back-to-back albums, including a re-release since her debut of “Pon De Replay” in 2005. According to Willliams, Marc Jordan, manager and owner of Rebel One Management has been taking care of Rihanna’s financial situation with her.
“Def Jam doesn’t fund Rihanna properly, so Marc uses the money Rihanna makes from third-party endorsements and from tours to fund her album and music videos.”
“Since 2005, Rihanna has been sponsored by the likes of JC Penny, Samsung, CoverGirl, Secret, Venus Breeze etc, and has gone on two major tours, most recently label-mate Kanye West’s “Glow in the Dark” Tour and with Pussy Cat Dolls across Europe. I don’t want to disrespect Marc’s name. He is a fantastic manager and genuinely believes in Rihanna. But he uses her money to fund her future projects because he believes he can break her in the world-market. Her album sales are not nearly as close to her single sales and he knows that if she is only known as a ‘singles artist’ she will only be as good as her last hit. Unfortunately, he didn’t inform his client and I’m receiving the brunt of it.”
“Her record label Def Jam has put out 3 albums in a time span of 2 years. A lot of that was orchestrated through her management Rebel One. It was never Def Jam’s intention to release so many albums back-to-back but Marc Jordan found loop holes and ways to make it happen. A lot of the money Rihanna made was through her endorsements between CoverGirl cosmetics, Samsung.. Notice that majority of Rihanna’s videos have a cell phone in it?”
“After the release of Rihanna and Teairra Mari, Def Jam had the intention to drop both acts because their album sales were not successful. Her manager fought to get “S.O.S (Rescue Me)” and quickly tried to negotiate with as many companies as possible. Nike picked up the song and funded a video.”
“This brought the hype back for Rihanna in the company’s New York office. The majority of the official ‘S.O.S’ video was funded by Samsung because the record label was only willing to put up a small amount. Once ‘S.O.S’ picked up digitally and at radio, Def Jam agreed to fund the rest of her album. Jordan instantly got a video shot to ‘Unfaithful’ (he negotiated with video director Anthony Mandler to drop his price and would be given more videos from Rihanna in return).”
“Then they shot ‘We Ride’ which was an extremely cheap video to create. ‘Break It Off’ was released as a third album, but again, Def Jam was unhappy with the sales of her album A Girl Like Me and refused to shoot a video.”
“At this point Rihanna was opening up for the Pussy Cat Doll’s in Europe. She was making 30,000 a show but she didn’t see any of that money because it was needed to fund her next album.” Which is now known to the greater public as a Good Girl Gone Bad.”
“The song “Umbrella” was found & Jordan fought again for Rihanna to have it. They shot the video, which CoverGirl funded half of, and the song became a success. When the record label had their meeting with Music Stores across the U.S to order her album for shipment, the number’s weren’t coming in the way that they expected.”
“When the album’s first week numbers came in at less than 150,000, the label was shocked. Def Jam’s President LA Reid was livid! “Umbrella” was #1 for 11 weeks! Any other artist would have sold way more first week. T-Pain even did better in sales than her that week. Def Jam told Jordan they were no longer funding the album, so Jordan needed money again to pay for music videos ‘Shut Up & Drive’ and ‘Dont Stop The Music’. Almost 250,000 was spent to have those videos created. Plus, an additional 120,000 to shoot ‘Hate That I Love You’.”
“Jordan was noticing that ‘Dont Stop The Music’ was picking up, so he persuaded the label to support it at radio in the U.S and the remaining singles, and they did. Then came for the repackaging of her album Good Girl Gone Bad, which is called Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, that entire project was funded through Rihanna’s money.
“‘Take A Bow’ was bought through her money, the video was created with her money and so is her most recent video and single ‘Disturbia’. The label didn’t even want to pay a dime for anything! Close to 750,000 was spent on those two songs alone. And now she expects to see money in her account?”
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!!! I have nothing… If this is true, that would explain why she has been everywhere. What do you think? Is Patricia telling the truth or is she a woman scorned*?
*Speaking of women scorned I know Teiarra Mari is somewhere feeling extra vindicated…
As much as i love Rihanna, I believe it
But at the same time, them endorsement deals were 7 figures so I dont understand it just a little…but we’ll see
August 19th, 2008 at 12:34 pmcelebrities also waste their money
August 19th, 2008 at 3:54 pmcompeting with other celebreties
they are buying more than they can afford
they have to pay their staffs,assistants and band mates
not to mention support their families
why do you think keyshia cole is bringing back her reality shoe
Sorry but I absolutely do not believe that crap and I wish people would do more research on their own. You need only google album sales on Good Girls gone bad to figure out that she sold more than that. Americans maynot be embracing her that much but world wide rihanna is outselling many big names…..She actually sold 200 000 copies in the UK alone in the first week of sales and it has won triple platinium in some countries alone. Her nike endorsement alon was 20 mil…The list is quite long. And dont forget that Barbados has one of the biggest offshore banking provisions in the world so I am sure they have handled some her cash. SOme of the so called facts above make no sense whatsoever.
August 19th, 2008 at 5:10 pmI should add that celebraties like Rihanna get a lot of free stuff from companies she probably didnt pay for half the stuff that she wears. Because of her foreign status in the US i am sure she is also tax exempt. On top of that she probably owns houses in Barbados……If it was her money that went into the development of her album etc then she owns most of the rights then….This sound like a bunch of bull…..
August 19th, 2008 at 5:15 pmwow just because yall make alot of money dont mean yall gotta waste it on crazy stuff damn
August 19th, 2008 at 8:58 pmRihanna like many other high profile musician spend their money on things that they don’t need or want but they just do it because everyboby else is, young singers should save and invest their money.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:37 pmwell, now it makes sense, she is everywhere and everythn this lady says sounds reasonable and I really do believe it, to put it this way, her album, complete with a re release,6 singles and out since March of 07, has sold 1.3 million copies in the US while Mariah Carey’s E=MC2 album which has only had a couple singles and was released in April of 08 has sold 1.2 million copies in the US …
August 19th, 2008 at 11:16 pmSounds somewhat plausable to me but im sure she probably has a diverse portfolio; for her sake i hope so. I must admit she is showin up everywhere lately as if she is attempting to recoup some of that money. Maybe Chris brezzy will bank roll her…LOL
August 20th, 2008 at 3:52 ami get it but i don’t get it either! bootlegging is a bitch for these people they be thinking the industry got their backs but guess what THEY MAKING MONEY OFF THEIR ASSES JUST LIKE THEY MAKING MONEY OF OURS
August 20th, 2008 at 9:41 amI believe it.
Rihanna is young and probably entrusting all her financial decisions to a group of people who may (or may not) have her best interests at heart. How could she know, as busy as she is, what she is paying for versus the record label.
Note to RiRi: You’ve got the ‘it’ factor, girl, and could be an even bigger superstar than you are now, but start signing your own checks! Get some business know-how and stop making them elaborate videos. They’re nice to watch but don’t let that be the reason you end up on a Section 8 waiting list.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:05 amThis and other articles I’ve read have thrown blame at the manager, the publisist, and the record labels. I’m wondering why no one ever thought to hire her an Accountant? Or if she has one why they aren’t being blamed for any of this mess? Someone making that kind of money will definitely have a lot of expenses and a shopping habit to match, if I was her I’d be a lot more involved in where and how my money is spent, or make someone accountable for how and when the money is spent. Common sense people! Live and learn my friend.
August 20th, 2008 at 11:36 amIm not surprised to hear this news, however it is terribly sad. Rihanna seems naiive and also unfamiliar with American finanicial politics.(and unconcerned up until now I suppose)Anyone who is not from this country, who comes here could easily be taken advantage of financially. Noone is exempt, when it comes to the havoc that the American Dollar can reap if your not super careful.
I think all of the promotion for Rihanna was excessive from the start. Back to back albums, touring non-stop, Being an artist is a job, like anything else, and if your not going to be savvy with the financial part of it, your good as broke!
I am sure, at the end of the day, there is not one person around Rihanna looking out for her best interest. She’s away from those closest her, should really still have a gaurdian around her, and again is not American. So, I can see her label, and management sucking her dry- absoulutely! BE CAREFUL RIHANNA! GO TO SCHOOL! ONLY WAY TO WIN!!!
August 22nd, 2008 at 4:13 pmi dont belive this she broke many world record sale like 10 millions album since de start and she broke,and rihanna was the company favourite and jay-z favourite and they won’t fund her f*** u
August 23rd, 2008 at 7:53 amAfter this blows over,broke or not, Rihanna will know who her real friends are.
In fact if she is not broke, she should pretend to be broke…see who still calls, see who still texts.
funny but there is no mention of her paintings, house in la, apartment in NYC or 100k jewelry
August 24th, 2008 at 4:17 amRihanna,
August 26th, 2008 at 2:29 pmSome good advice from a singer to a singer:
1. Any song you sing, write at least one line in it. The people who write your songs are sitting pretty. You should be too!
2. Film your videos at home (what better setting could you want)
3. If you don’t take care of you first, you can’t help your family or friends
4. Get what you can for free - There’s people lining up to give you stuff
5. Invest in you! Get a good acting and voice coach and get into movies ASAP. Don’t wait.
6.DO NOT spend your money on a man! There are too many men out there who would give their left testicle to spend money on you. What’s yours is yours.
7. Let God be your closest friend and you’ll be fine.
I have all the faith in the world that you’ll show everybody what you’re made of. God bless
Umm wow, I just searched the managers name actually and apparently she has worked with BIG name clients. I don’t like rihanna blaming her claiming she stole from rihanna when rihanna isn’t making millions yet.
Well, she can always earn more I suppose, that’s if she’s good enough.
August 28th, 2008 at 5:54 amHere is the list to the reality as to why she is broke.
1. Rihanna DOES NOT write or produce her own music. The last person to get paid for a song is the singer.
2. Everytime she performs anything, the songwriters and producers get part of that money too.
3.She signed to a $20million dollar CAMPAIGN..meaning thats what Nike was gonna spend to promote her..NOT that that’s what she got paid.
4. She signed a horrible slave deal with Def Jam as all new artist do. She probably makes 15 cents for every one of those singles that she sells.
5. Lets not forget the biggest reason shes broke….Limewire!
Reality Check Homie….
September 22nd, 2008 at 1:17 pmFirst she is young and not that educated.
Second everyone remember she is being paid at a “new artist”, on her label. Her royalties are probably 10 - 30 cents of every album that is sold. Plus, the entertainment industry has expenses. She still has to pay back staff, and the record label. All these tours, performances, etc… all cost money. This story is very similar to what happened to Toni Braxton and TLC.
JOEL make an EXCELLENT POINT. read and take heed. The gentleman broke it down for you all. I have been telling everybody this, when she came out. Rihanna does not own anything of what she sings (speaks).
Beyonce and Mariah are the millionaires they are because they WRITE their own music.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:40 pmi really do hate 2 say this because i lve Rihanna 2 but it does sound true because it’s very easy 2 get broke trust i’ve been there and celebrties they do go crazy i mean look at all of the things they buy $250,000 bags and all sounds true 2 me lve u rihanna
November 1st, 2008 at 8:19 pmWHY DO YOU ALL CARE ABOUT HER POCKETS!!!!!!!!! FIND SOMETHING TO DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 11th, 2008 at 1:37 pm