{"id":8460,"date":"2025-11-05T17:18:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/band-threatening-to-sue-ex-manager-over-memoir\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T17:18:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:18:19","slug":"band-threatening-to-sue-ex-manager-over-memoir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/band-threatening-to-sue-ex-manager-over-memoir\/","title":{"rendered":"Band Threatening to Sue Ex-Manager Over Memoir"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tA former manager of Guns N\u2019 Roses claims in a new lawsuit that the band has unfairly blocked the release of his autobiography by threatening to sue him and his publisher as he tries to \u201ctell his story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlan Niven<\/strong>, who managed the iconic rock band during its late 80s heyday, claims that GNR has wrongfully invoked a confidentiality clause in his 1991 termination contract and made \u201crepeated threats\u201d of legal action over the memoir, Sound N\u2019 Fury: Rock N\u2019 Roll Stories<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDue to GNR\u2019s threats, Sound N\u2019 Fury languishes in a warehouse,\u201d Niven\u2019s attorneys write in the lawsuit, which was obtained by Billboard<\/em>. \u201cThousands of copies of Sound N\u2019 Fury have been printed and continue to incur storage expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tNiven says his book \u201cincludes stories involving the members\u201d of the band like Axl Rose and Slash, but that the contract is clearly unenforceable. He says that GNR members have also repeatedly discussed his role in the band\u2019s history \u2013 meaning he\u2019s allowed to speak about it too as a matter of free speech.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThese public disclosures by defendant\u2019s members and agents have collectively placed the relevant facts of the band\u2019s relationship with plaintiff into the public domain and made them matters of public interest,\u201d Niven\u2019s lawyers write. \u201cEnforcement of the confidentiality provision would be illegal and in violation of the Constitutional protection of free expression.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA rep for Guns N\u2019 Roses did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\n\tNiven started managing Guns N\u2019 Roses in 1985, shortly after the band solidified its best-known lineup: Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler. And he was there for GNR\u2019s rise to stardom with the chart-topping Appetite for Destruction<\/em>, which featured smash hit singles like \u201cWelcome to the Jungle,\u201d \u201cParadise City,\u201d and \u201cSweet Child o\u2019 Mine.\u201d Niven was fired in 1991 by Rose, who reportedly refused to release the band\u2019s next album until Niven was gone.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Niven tells it in his lawsuit, he was instrumental in the band\u2019s success: \u201cNiven\u2019s work with GNR is the stuff of legends, as he took them from nowhere to headlining Wembley Stadium in less than six years.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\tAfter he was \u201cbetrayed\u201d and fired by the band, Niven admits that he signed a \u201cbuy out\u201d agreement covering the terms of his exit. He says it contained a \u201cprivacy\/confidentiality\u201d provision that required both<\/em> sides to avoid sharing information about the other learned during their long partnership.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Niven says that in the years since, GNR members have made \u201cmany references\u201d to him, including \u201cinflammatory or even defamatory\u201d ones. He specifically cites several examples, including a 2008 magazine interview in which Rose suggested that Niven was \u201calways tryin\u2019 to convince someone they should fire me\u201d and was seeking a \u201ca personal pay day\u201d from their record label.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMembers of GNR have mentioned Niven, sometimes in a derogatory [way], starting at least as far back 1991,\u201d his lawyers write. \u201cNiven\u2019s comments about the band are thus justified by the agreement, which allows him to comment on matters raised by the band first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe also claims the agreement is void for an even simpler reason: That Hudson, McKagan and Stradlin signed the deal, but that Axl himself never did so: \u201cIt is unclear who is attempting to enforce the agreement now, and whether they have standing to do so,\u201d his attorneys say. \u201cRose did not sign the agreement, and one signatory (Stradlin) has remained silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn technical terms, Niven is seeking a \u201cdeclaratory judgment\u201d that the 1991 contract is unenforceable, or that he is not violating the terms of it by releasing his book. He is also suing the band for damages over accusations that it \u201cintimidated\u201d his publisher into delaying the books release.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDefendants\u2019 interference has resulted in damages to Niven from lost sales and lost reputation in the market for his book and life story, only a fraction of which has anything to do with Defendants\u2019 rock group,\u201d he says. \u201cIndividual advance orders have been cancelled. The books have incurred storage fees. Niven\u2019s momentum in the press has been destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former manager of Guns N\u2019 Roses claims in a new lawsuit that the band has unfairly blocked the release of his autobiography by threatening to sue him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1105,1328,6989,440,6988],"class_list":["post-8460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-band","tag-exmanager","tag-memoir","tag-sue","tag-threatening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}