The Guess Who co-founders members are suing their former bandmates for alleged deception and false advertising.
Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings are seeking in excess of $20 million in damages from former bandmates Jim Kale and Garry Peterson for allegedly giving the false impression the current iteration of the band is the original The Guess Who.
A press release about the federal lawsuit filed in a Los Angeles court on Monday says Bachman and Cummings allege the current lineup — in which Peterson is the only member from the band’s classic lineup — has used the band’s name, photos of them, and recordings that Bachman and Cummings performed, without obtaining proper licenses.
A press release announcing the lawsuit calls the current membership a “group of hired musicians” and a “cover band.”
“Anyone presenting and promoting themselves as The Guess Who are clones who are ripping off our fans and tainting the legacy of the band. It’s about time for the real story to come out.”
The Guess Who rose to fame in the late 1960s and were catapulted into stardom after releasing the album American Woman in 1970. “These Eyes” and “No Time” made the Winnipeg group household names.
Bachman left the group in 1970, while Cummings left to pursue a solo career in 1975, at which point the group was said to have disbanded, Cummings told Rolling Stone.
The Guess Who’s classic lineup consisted of Cummings, Bachman, Kale, and Peterson. Kale left the group in 1972 and formed new lineups of the band by 1977. After Kale retired in 2016, Peterson became the only member left from the band’s most popular lineup and now performs alongside Leonard Shaw, Derek Sharp, Michael Devin and Michael Staertow.
The press release also states Kale and Peterson replaced images of the classic band on landing pages of music streaming platforms with pictures of the cover band “in an effort to boost sales of tickets for live performances.”
Kale and Peterson are alleged to have concocted “a deceptive scheme that has falsely led fans into buying tickets for the cover band’s live shows and implying that Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman are performing at the shows when in fact they have no affiliation with the cover band.”
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