Ashanti Files Lawsuit Over Teenage Demos

R&B songstress and Murder Inc. affiliate Ashanti filed a federal lawsuit in a New York court on January 27 over the unauthorized release of demos she recorded more than eight years ago.

Ashanti named Genard Parker, Georgia-based T.E.A.M. Entertainment, German distributor ZXY Music, Australia's Big Records Australia and Rajon Distribution, Japan's Farm Records and U.K. companies Simply Vinyl Recordings and Unique Corp. as defendants in the suit.

Ashanti challenges that the demos she recorded for Parker and T.E.A.M. when she was 16 were solely made to pursue major label deals and that she never gave permission for the songs to be released on an album. The singer alleges that various editions of a 2005 compilation called Can't Stop featured recent photos of her on the cover and gave her prominent billing in the credits, even though she only sings background vocals on two tracks and doesn't perform at all on another.

The Ja Rule associate alleges invasion of privacy, unfair competition and trademark-related claims for releasing the early demos without her permission and using her name and likeness in ads and on the album itself. She has asked for an injunction, damages to make up for lost profits and harm to her reputation, as well as punitive damages of more than $1 million U.S.Genard and T.E.A.M. won a $630,000 judgment against Ashanti last July for breaching a production contract she signed when she was a teenager to allow them to produce additional albums for her.

Collectables By Ashanti, an authorized compilation released in December by Def Jam, featured four new recordings.