The estate of Steely Dan rocker Walter Becker says it is “disappointed” after Becker’s bandmate Donald Fagen filed a lawsuit last week to keep ownership of the band.
Fagen, 69, sued Becker’s estate over a nearly 50-year-old buy/sell contract that, according to Rolling Stone, claimed “that if a member of Steely Dan quit or died, the band would purchase all of that member’s shares in the group.”
The contract was written in 1972, just before the release of the band’s debut album, “Can’t Buy a Thrill.”
Fagen says he received a letter from Becker’s widow, Delia, shortly after Becker’s Sept. 3 death claiming that the contract “is of no force or effect,” and that she should be named a director or officer of the band and receive 50 percent ownership.
Fagen — who is also suing Steely Dan’s former business management firm for “secretive behaviors” — is seeking $1 million in damages, according to NPR, and wants the court to rule on whether or not the contract is still in play.
Becker’s estate hit back at Fagen’s filing Monday with a statement maintaining its belief that the contract was not in effect when Becker died.
Becker and Fagen continued to tour together in recent years before Becker died at 67 while being treated for esophageal cancer.
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