B.B. King has Oprah Money -- Who Knew?!

31. Here's the story and I wish I could say that I'm shocked TMZ didn't get it all right.
BB fired Floyd Lieberman of New York for, lets just say, shoddy management (ie stealing).
BB then moves his operation from New York out west. He goes on tour in Europe and in the middle of the tour, when he's away, Lieberman files suit and makes this 100 million dollar story up to grab headlines. What agent do you know only gets 1.5%?
Lieberman is a snake and is trying to continue to take advantage of BB.

BB's clubs are a franchise on his name. He has nothing to do with prices or anything. They pay him a small percentage like 3.78% of the total take for using his name. He's got five clubs. He's not poor or pissed away all of his money like so many musicians but, he's not rolling in 100 million either. Since 2000 including the crash of the market, he's probably at a total worth of 35 million.

For the guy that said something about one song, BB in mid-80's has put out more than 80 albums and holds the record for touring playing more 200 concert date years than any other band going back 40 years.
He's a class act that has been famous for 60 years and you don't hear a scant of scandal about him. Todays stars can't stay on the scene six months without making the scandal circuit. Get a life.

Posted at 12:25AM on Jul 13th 2009 by Cold Weater Attorney

32. Seems to me that the 100 million was used to get the attention of the media.
They release this when BB is in Europe, maybe so he can't respond.
The club prices are of no matter as its a franchise that pays BB a pre-set amount that's in the single digit percentage.
The only thing that was left 'high and dry' is the BB's bank account after being managed by Lieberman for those years. The guy stole so much that BB fired him and his no good son, then moved his operation out west.
Maybe Floyd's right and BB really did amass 100 million, more than half of that never made it to BB.
Floyd Lieberman is a disgruntled shameless former employee who is trying to squeeze another million out of BB. It will be interesting to read the suit as filed.

Posted at 11:56PM on Jul 12th 2009 by NDaNoe

33. Its more like Kobe or Lebron money.

So BB had to fire his snake of an agent and the agents worthless son, big deal.
Big deal until they try to exploit you. BB is like right around 85, I wonder if they are trying to pile the stress on until he falls over and then take on the fight with his family.
I hear he has like 15 kids all who hate each other, should be pretty easy for a slick lawyer to slip in that mix and take what he thinks is owed to him.

As far as being a good manager, how do you manage the career of a living legend and not open music schools up named after him?

Posted at 9:17PM on Jul 13th 2009 by BB Fan

34. Last September, at the dedication ceremony for the B.B. King Museum & Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, MS, Floyd Lieberman (the correct spelling, TMZ) inadvertently cut the ribbon prematurely. Everybody laughed. They all gave him the "You doofus" treatment, and he looked embarrassed.

Apparently that's not the only thing he's done prematurely. Nobody's laughing now because it's not funny. And now, Lieberman really should be embarrassed.

I'll echo what others have said. In the decades I've known B.B. King, I've also known him to be the most kind-hearted, generous man on the face of the planet. He's the quintessential American success story. His museum building in Indianola is the same one where he use to sweat 14 hours a day in 100-degree heat as a teen-aged cotton worker. For most of his career he was more hard-working than James Brown, playing 350 club and concerts dates annually. And some of those places in the early days were not exactly luxury clubs in Manhattan.

Howlin Wolf once intoned, "I did not say I was a millionaire. I said if I'da kept all the money I made in life I would have more money than a millionaire." (Goin' Down Slow) That's true for most anyone who's spent 60+ years working for a living. At least B.B. has something to show for it, in addition to his millions of fans around the world. He'll be 84 on September 16.

Posted at 3:56PM on Jul 18th 2009 by javajive