Former Wailer Loses Royalties Court Case

Former Wailers bassist Aston Barrett has lost his battle to recover what he says was £60m of unpaid royalties.

Barrett alleged that he was owed the money for earnings from songs co-written with Bob Marley and as part of a contract signed with Island Records in 1974.

However the case has been dismissed the morning by the presiding judge, Mr Justice Lewison, at the High Court in London according to the BBC.

Barrett was a member of The Wailers from 1969 to 1981 and claimed that Marley had promised the entire band an equal share in royalties from their records.

The family of Marley however claimed that Barrett and his brother Carly, who drummed for The Wailers, were only classed as a backing band.

Island Records backed this claim adding that Barrett had waived his rights to any further royalties in a 1994 agreement.

In a statement the Marley family said of the case and the decision: "For the last four years, Aston Barrett has persisted in this hurtful and extremely expensive claim which was actually settled in 1994. The family of Bob Marley is delighted that the claim has now been rejected in full.”

"We always felt that this would be the outcome and it was hard to listen to Aston Barrett reduce his friend Bob to someone who was more interested in playing football than making music."