"He was honest, completely honest," Elizabeth insists. The trial of the three wives went forward, and final briefs were due in early 1988. Emiras case was just beginning when Elizabeth Waters Lymon petitioned the Surrogate Court claiming that she was Frankie Lymons widow, and Zola Taylor also objected claiming that she was Lymons rightful widow. "I can't just sit here and tell the court anything different. Borstein, Levy's attorney, says the agreements amount to standard industry contracts. He followed it with Im Not a Juvenile Delinquent, I Want You to Be My Girl and other songs characterized by his trademark piercing high voice. Its a mark of how shallow Fools is that even as gifted an actor as Tate (excellent in Menace II Society and Dead Presidents) cant turn Lymon into anything more than a cipher. Levy declined direct comment on the Lymon matter. It was put on hold until the completion of a new trial to determine which of three women Frankie Lymon was said to have married, but none of whom he ever divorced, was his rightful widow and heir. ", "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" was part of the American Graffiti film soundtrack and album, a big pop hit single and album for Diana Ross in 1981, and had been used in a greeting card commercial. She told the judge that Frankie Lymon was a charmer. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. However, it turned out she had been married to someone else at the time. Instead, he has posthumously provoked a trial that will determine which of the three women he is said to have married -- without ever scrupling to divorce any of them -- is really his widow and heir. When she recovered, she declared that "she knew it; she'd had faith all along," Peterson said. Depending on how the judge rules, the decision may reactivate a federal suit to wrest Lymon's royalties and publishing rights from the record industry executive who claims to own them. Back in New Jersey, Ronnie Italiano and the UGHA had adhered to Emiras aforementioned wishes and held off on moving forward with their project to acquire and place a memorial tombstone on Frankie Lymons grave until her lawsuit was settled. But he will apparently have little trouble with Elizabeth Waters. Frankie told Elizabeth that Zola and I arent doing anything; its just a motherly relationship, Elizabeth testified in court. She did not know the druggie described in this trial. I caught Frankie at a good time in his life. "A lot of people say I knew him so long I became like him.". He had the type of personality that would draw people, she said. Left-Wing Meloni: Italys Attempt to Replicate Giorgia Meloni, Europe is dumping its migrants in Africa in exchange of money, Antoinette Giancana Biography, Family and Movies, David Von Drehle: Biography, Career, Education and Books, Uplift Suasion: the notion to change racism, Mexicos constitutional crisis has its roots in Washington, The EU-Mercosur Deal: Macrons Duplicity Unveiled, Paraguay declares Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. With the trial about to begin and still believing that he had a firm agreement with Emira, Ronnie ran a second benefit concert in the fall of 1985 to raise additional funds for Frankie Lymons tombstone. "They wanted to impress their friends in school" by being on the radio. The Associated Press AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) Funeral services have been held for the widow of '50s rock star Frankie Lymon. ELIZABETH OGLE WATERS OBITUARY. Elizabeth Waters Found 1,173 people in Florida, Georgia and 49 other states. The record company executive has other problems: He was sentenced last week to 10 years in prison for his conspiracy conviction arising from an FBI investigation of racketeering in the recording industry. Waters bore Lymon's only known child, a daughter who died shortly after birth. He then called Elizabeth and urged her to join him. She also stole the hearts of many people and led to a five-year legal battle to answer which of the three women who claimed to be married to the star was the real Mrs. Frankie Lemmon . He also represented several of the artists featured on the "Dirty Dancing" album. Lymon is always short of money, no childhood, and, in most descriptions, lacks calmness, but when a small star appears on the stage, he always steals the limelight. Undisputed, however, was the song's impact. I know its been good for me.. Lymon was discharged a year later, he'd said "I do" once more. He was used and misused, and he used others also, she concluded. He was a master manipulator, however, and it was just two months after his less than honorable discharge for repeatedly being AWOL that he went to New York, telling Emira that he wanted to see about reviving his career while also secretly planning to contact lady friends and drug pushers in the city. Lymon and his group followed up with three more hits in 1956 and another in 1957. "He had such presence, he'd just take over a stage and wipe an audience out. It makes him not only a good soldier, but a better individual. Last to the altar is Eagle, the sister of one of the singers Army buddies. The death certificate said he died of "acute intravenous narcotism.". 8822 County Road 64. Frankie marrying a schoolteacher? She says she's never recovered financially from the loss of her home and still feels "cheated," yet she also talks about Lymon's ruptured family, and, again, his drug dependency. Zola, the second supposed wife, got to be pretty friendly with the first. Elizabeth Waters Lymon, Elizabeth also acknowledged in court that she started using heroin and cocaine at this point. He then was a private in the Army taking basic infantry training at Fort Gordon and assigned to Company D, 16th Battalion, 2nd Training Brigade. At the least, records and witnesses' recollections seem to indicate that Frankie Lymon did stand before a magistrate or minister on three occasions to promise himself to each of these women until death parted them, which turned out to be a fairly short time. Years later, in the wainscoted courtroom where Lymon's love life was being retraced in painful detail, Elizabeth turned to the judge. She also turned to prostitution to support her daughter from her first marriage, to one Charles Phillips, when she was just 16. When a star-struck group like the Teenagers finally got to audition for a doo-wop impresario, such matters as copyright barely figured in the conversation. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Also Read Inside Data and Cyber Security issue in Barbados Europe plays chess with Wagner's African moves, imposes sanctions It was painfully revealed in court testimony, however, that Frankie Lymon, for all his talent, was a bigamist, hustler, liar, and thief. Aside from Waters, the winner of this legal round is Morris Levy, head of Roulette Records, among the defendants when Eagle brought a federal suit in 1984. Elizabeth Waters was a struggling part-time bill collector from Philadelphia. Zola had also been a teenage star. He probably found out through her attorney, who Ronnie now had to deal with during the lawsuit., His dealings with Emira had all been oral. His attorney called the charges complete speculation claimed and that there was absolutely no proof of Levy's guilt. Zola Taylor Lymon. Fox), a prison-hardened former shoplifter and prostitute. In one disturbing incident, James wrote that Levy arranged a 1967 attack on former Roulette artist Jimmie Rodgers by an off-duty police officer in response to Rodgers repeated demands for unpaid royalties he was owed by the label. Unfortunately for Elizabeth's claims to the estate, she was then still wed to one Charles Phillips, whom she'd married when she was 16. While growing up in New York City, I never had much discipline, Lymon told The Chronicle. That don't make me a Catholic. According to Span, Rubin was not opposed to generating new income from old music. He and two codefendants are busy preparing for their April 11 trial for extortion and conspiracy in federal court in Camden, N.J., stemming from an FBI investigation of organized crime in the recording industry. "He had been busted in California again for drugs." But I couldnt get my hands on him, couldnt find him. According to Elizabeth and several other witnesses, Frankie was back in New York telling them that his marriage to Zola had only been a publicity stunt. Parts of the above testimony and chronology of events were disputed in court. The names of Frankie Lymon and Morris Levy were now listed as the songwriters. Both Elizabeth's and Zola's attorneys say Emira offered their clients 20 percent (for Elizabeth) and 5 percent (for Zola) of the estate. By the time I met Frankie, he was a record deal-needing, broke ass, scam-on-his-momma-for-a-fix druggie! Donald Ray Lymon Sep. 6, 1964 - Jan. 23, 2023 Lie in State Fri. 1/27/23, 4-8pm at Small's Mortuary. His in the end was a wasted life ruined by drugs. Elizabeth Lymon said in court papers that she married Lymon on Jan. 23, 1964, in Alexandria, Va., and had his daughter, Gloria Francine, who died shortly after birth in 1965. Lymon signed with both 20th Century Fox Records and Columbia Records, but both deals were short-lived. There may be further delays, though, while that executive faces federal extortion charges. Elizabeth Waters is currently single. Yet just over a year later, Lymon would be found dead in his grandmothers bathroom from drug abuse. The small wedding party celebrated by getting very drunk, not an uncommon state for Frankie at the time. According to Spans story, Frankie moved into Zolas home and her bedroom. The signs were plain, she says now, that Lymon was floundering, working only intermittently, addicted to drugs and probably to alcohol as well. Though other people testify in the trial, notably Little Richard playing himself and saying things like I am the originator, the emancipator, the motivator, most of Fools is told in flashback as each woman takes the stand and relates her portion of Lymons life. He was a soldier for most of their brief marriage, taking the bus from her family's home to the post each day. And if Zola wins she's also decided to record an album of Frankie's hits -- "I Want You to Be My Girl," "I Promise to Remember," all the big ones. "She was so taken with the idea of being once and for all declared the real Mrs. Frankie Lymon." Interment: Whispering Pines Cem. By 1964 he was using again, and she was hiding the money from his occasional gigs in a hole in the wall of their apartment to keep him from buying heroin with it. Jimmy Merchant and Herman Santiago, the two surviving members of the original Teenagers (Sherman Garnes, the inventive bass, and Joe Negroni were the others), say they wrote "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" Elizabeth Waters was a struggling part-time bill collector from Philadelphia. She met Frankie when he was 20-years-old, backstage at the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. Paula Span reported that, during the trial, the judge even raised the disquieting possibility that none of his three supposed marriages was legally contracted, that Lymon had no widow. He had a bad year in 1966. They had been married for 4.1 years. "Just make sure the artist or writer gets his share." She has been in one celebrity relationship averaging approximately 4.1 years. The only child he is known to have fathered died hours after her birth. "I'd have killed him, I was so angry," she says. Each woman suspected he was sleeping with the other, and both apparently were correct. Emira's attorneys argue that Elizabeth and Frankie separated in mid-1965 and never lived together as man and wife thereafter, invalidating her claim to a common-law marriage. -- those he abused and betrayed seem loath to condemn him. Borstein also said that Lymon, who was always pestering Levy for money, sold Levy the copyright to all his songs and that Levy has a signed document to that effect. Also Read:Uplift Suasion: the notion to change racism, Your email address will not be published. At the age of 13 little Lymon and his group of singers Teens signed a recording contract. Lymon related that he started singing publicly with his three brothers in a choral group at Gospel Church in New York City. She'd come with two girlfriends to meet her onetime idol. "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" Span wrote that Frankies relationship with Zola was not entirely maternal. Her divorce didn't come through until 1965. Similarly, one of the unexamined factors in his turning to hard drugs was apparently the difficulties caused by his voice beginning to change. 1 pop hit for Diana Ross in 1981 and recently turned up in a greeting card commercial. Waters, who on the witness stand acknowledged a long struggle with drugs and prostitution during her tempestuous relationship with the onetime star, got the news from her attorney Monday night. It was modified to just Lymon and Goldner on subsquent recordings for the next decade before Goldner's name was replaced by Levy's. Emira Lymon, who was appointed administrator of his estate in Georgia in 1973, sued her dead husband`s record company in 1984 for $500,000 in royalties. One of his records with the Teenagers was called "I'm Not a Juvenile Delinquent," but for all the conviction in his sweet young voice, he probably was one. His bride was Emira Eagle, an elementary school teacher who lived with her family in nearby Augusta. "She's a square," Zola decided, noticing that Emira was coming to court in sneakers. Eagle's New York counsel Ira Greenberg agreed that his "current inclination" was to appeal. Though Waters was not yet divorced from her first husband when she and Frankie Lymon married in a civil ceremony in Alexandria in 1964, their union became valid when that divorce became final in 1965, the judge found. "Some drug users, they rob, they steal, and they do everything to sustain that habit." (Diana Ross also had a hit with it), "Goody Goody," "Little Bitty Pretty One" and "Im Not a Juvenile Delinquent.". Elizabeth's lawyers maintain her marriage is valid, which means that neither Zola's nor Emira's can be. "She was speechless, actually unable to talk," reported the attorney, Dwight Peterson. A decision was reached in November, but the case would not end there. I know its been good for me.. Levy had been arrested earlier in 1986 as part of the F.B.I. Opened 1940 | Named after Elizabeth Waters. Half adroit flatterer, half emotional infant, the films Lymon offers hardly a clue as to why his real-life counterpart was so irresistible to women. All these arguments were laid forth in voluminous briefs, memoranda, and affidavits filed in Surrogate Court. However, it turned out she had been married to someone else at the time. "Some drug users, they rob, they steal, they do everything to sustain that habit." According to Paula Span, people sometimes compared Frankie with the young Michael Jackson, who also knew how to combine innocence and knowingness. The following month, Zola testified that she and Frankie drove to Tijuana and got married in a tiny chapel. Emira Eagle Lymon. It didnt last long, however. Her singing group, the Platters, was sometimes referred to as the Four Platters and a Dish; Zola, in her low-cut gowns, was the dish. She claimed to have . Lymon C. Reese Lymon Clifton Reese was born in Stanley, Pike County, Arkansas, on April 27, 1917, to Samuel Wesley Reese and Nancy Elizabeth (Betty) Daniel Reese. Frankie Lymon/Wife. Funeral services will be held Monday, February 27, 2023, at 3:00 PM from the chapel. He claimed that both women thought that their agreements with Levy were fair, and that neither planned to take legal action against him if she is found to be Frankies widow. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. An employee of a furniture store in north Philadelphia, she was in South Carolina for a family funeral. "Frankie was that kind of person, your honor," she said. Elizabeth Waters was not yet divorced when she married Lymon, but the marriage became lawful once her first husbands divorce was finalized. Friday, November 06 2020. At her insistence he checked into a Manhattan hospital to cure his drug habit, and maybe he succeeded for a time. Why does the rain fall from up above? Key parts of this chronology are in dispute, of course. Running time: 1 hour, 56 minutes. 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