Singer Macy Gray is suing ICM and agent Scott Mantell, claiming she was promised a discount on commissions for a 2017 European tour that didn’t meet the $500,000 minimum guarantee and the agency failed to follow through.
Gray, suing under her legal name Natalie HInds, says after Martell convinced her to sign on to a summer tour with a guaranteed gross of a half million dollars, he called her manager Adam Arnkoff and said he was only able to secure $420,000.
The singer says the $80,000 shortfall meant she was likely to lose money on the tour and she’d have to skip it because her child was seriously ill and she didn’t want to leave for two months without making any money.
Then, according to the complaint, Mantell told Gray and Arnkoff that if he didn’t secure $500,000 in bookings he’d cut his commission from 20 percent to 10 percent. After revisiting the tour budget with that in mind, Gray decided to move forward with the tour.
After the tour ended in the red, Gray contacted Mantell about the $22,000 in forfeited commission. She says Mantell told her, “Nobody here likes cutting commissions and they don’t like when agents agree to things without permission, but I told you I would do it, and I will.”
Gray says Mantell later said she’d only receive the money if she signed a one-year exclusive deal with ICM. The singer says she was “absolutely floored” and felt she was being extorted.
Gray is suing for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other claims, and is seeking unspecified punitive damages.
ICM has not yet responded to a request for comment.
