Charles Stepney's Kids Sues Maurice White

[P-Shark: The Revenge]

CELEBRITY JUSTICE3/30/2012 7:30 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF
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EARTH, WIND & FIREMaurice White Accused ofStiffing DEAD Producerhttp://ll-media.tmz.com/2012/03/30/0330-maurice-white-ex-3.jpg
Earth, Wind & Fire creator Maurice White is being sued for allegedly not forking over thousands of dollars to the guy who produced some of his biggest hits ... but there's a catch -- the producer DIED 36 years ago.

The man at the center of the controversy is Charles Stepney -- who produced a bunch of EWF hits from 1974 until his death in 1976 ... including Shining Star, Mighty Mighty, Devotion and Sing a Song.

But according to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ ... Stepney's children claim they recently discovered their dad NEVER got any royalty checks for his producer work on the EWF hits ... even while he was alive.

Now, they want Maurice ... along with Sony Music Holdings, Inc ... to fork over a HUGE check for all of the royalties they claim they deserve ... dating all the way back to 1974.

We reached out to Maurice for comment -- so far, no word back.

[marv2]

That's too bad. Maurice knows that is not right. I wonder what his answer to all of this is?

[soulster]

What if White paid him in cash, which was common back in the day? That means there was no paper trail. What if Charles Stepney didn't want the money? I'm sure White's and Sony's attorney's are going through everything righ now.

[chidrummer]

Who knows what Stepney and White agreed to back then? Maybe Charles agreed to do the projects he worked on for a set fee. We don't know, unless it's been written down or there were witnesses to the agreement at the time. Maurice didn't own Columbia records. It's usually the record company, the publishing company, ASCAP or BMI who control where the money goes from record sales. Why haven't the Stepney family gone after those entities? Why in the world would you wait 35 years to bring suit? There's quite a bit missing to this story.

[soulster]

Well, The Isley Brothers paid their producers in cash. The difference is that T-Neck was their company.

[splanky]

I smell bullcrap...