Troubled singer Bobby Brown and his old boy band New Edition fired their big-time Los Angeles managers and cut them out of $500,000 in fees – right before setting out on their summer reunion tour, according to a new lawsuit.
The Boston-born R&B group New Edition whose hits include “Candy Girl” and “Cool It Now” hired Benchmark Entertainment in 2012 to promote their 31st anniversary tour this summer.
Benchmark launched a website, found a VIP ticketing company to increase sales, hired a publicist, worked with set designers and organized the tour, according to court papers.
But the managers were dumped in June just days before the national tour launched.
Meanwhile, an overweight Brown, the late Whitney Houston’s former drug-abusing husband, suddenly quit the tour in July after he couldn’t keep up with the on-stage dance routine.
The band is scheduled to perform in Lincoln, Calif. on Friday, without Brown.
Benchmark, whose managers have also represented Radiohead, Erykah Badu and Green Day, was owed a 12.5 percent cut off tour revenue, the suit states.
The group’s attorney declined to comment.