Prince Must Pay $2.95M For Missed Gig

Although a confidential settlement was reached Feb. 26, High Court Justice Peter Kelly said he was forced to make the total damages public because the pop singer hasn’t made any efforts to pay off his bill.

Dublin promoters MCD Productions initially took both Prince (full name Prince Rogers Nelson) and his booking agency, William Morris Entertainment Endeavour, to court. Prince’s agents were later absolved of liability.

The show in question was set for June 16, 2008 at Dublin’s 82,300-capacity Croke Park Stadium. MCD Productions claims they learned the singer was canceling the gig less than two weeks before he was set to hit the stage. At that point, 55,000 tickets had been sold.

MCD said it kept up its end of the bargain by paying Prince half of his $3 million fee up front as well as handing over $950,000 to book the venue. After heavily advertising the show, the concert organizer was forced to refund all 55,000 tickets.

The Irish Times reported that Prince claims William Morris didn’t have the authority to hold him to the show. The booking agency countered that it did have the authority to negotiate gigs on his behalf based on an August 2005 agreement.

According to a witness statement read at the hearing, Prince wrote that he had “considered” performing a European tour and that William Morris agents “understood and agreed” they would “try” to book “several dates” in key European cities. Prince added that the Dublin concert “was still in the negotiation phase.”

William Morris said the singer didn’t provide a “specific” reason for canceling the Dublin gig but said Prince mentioned that no other European dates had been booked. The Purple One said it was William Morris’ “problem” because they had gotten him “into this mess,” according to the Irish Times.

William Morris agent Marc Geiger testified that he views Prince as one of his toughest clients to understand and that he rarely spoke to the singer directly.

During a face-to-face meeting on June 3, 2008, Geiger told Prince that MCD owner Denis Desmond was getting anxious about the upcoming show. Prince was quoted as saying, “Tell the cat to chill. We will work something out.”

MCD lawyer Maurice Collins said the concert promoter may enforce the judge’s ruling with an European Enforcement Order.

The Chaska Herald reported that Prince’s PRN Music Corporation, located in Chanhassen, Minn., is late on $221,898 worth of property taxes. In has also racked up $5,000 in interest, according to the Carver County Taxpayer Services Department. County taxpayer services manager Laurie Engelen estimates that between PRN Music and Prince’s other properties, the singer owes about $450,000 in taxes.

Click here for the AP story.

Click here for the Irish Times story.

Click here for the Chaska Herald story.