Ashanti Sued For 'Abandoning' Impoverished Producer 7/19/05

R&B beauty Ashanti appeared in court yesterday (18Jul05) to deny accusations she abandoned her first music producer when he asked her for payment after she became commercially successful. 

Producer Genard Parker told jurors he helped the Only You singer, then 16 years old, for eight months in 1996 when she was "just another teenage girl with a nice voice". 

He claims he released her from his contract when she signed with a record company, on the understanding he could produce two songs on her first album and would receive a $50,000 advance plus royalties. 

The lawsuit accuses the 24-year-old of violating Parker's contract when she refused to pay him the money despite his financial difficulties, following the success of her Grammy Award-winning debut album Ashanti. 

Ashanti insists she owes him nothing because he played a minor role in her rise to stardom. 

Parker's lawyer Jasmine Khalili told the US District Court in Manhattan, "This case is about abandoning the people that help us succeed. "She has never paid him, and, just as importantly, she has never thanked him."