Mötley Crüe Guitarist Suing Ex-Bandmates Over Profit Cuts
Even rock stars get older and sometimes have health problems. That’s the case with 71-year-old musician Robert Alan Deal who goes by the stage name Mick Mars and has now filed a lawsuit against the Hollywood heavy metal band Mötley Crüe while they are on their farewell tour—without him.
In the fall of 2022, he announced that he wouldn’t be joining his bandmates on tour as he was retiring from hitting the road due to his ongoing painful struggle with Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.). However, the legal documents made it clear that Mars would still be able to record with the band and even do some limited performances but wouldn’t be able to handle a full tour.
Mars also claims that the band had cut his percentage of profits from 25 percent to just 5 percent after his announcement that he would not be touring.
Taking a stand: Mick Mars, the co-founding guitarist for Mötley Crüe, is suing his former band with claims they kicked him off, ripped him off financially, and even gaslighted him.
Adding insult to injury, Mars claims Mötley Crüe’s lawyers made him feel like he should have gratitude for even receiving a small cut as they didn’t believe they owed him anything at all. Perhaps most explosively, Mars claimed that there had been a full band meeting and they decided to ‘unilaterally’ remove him from the group.
Mars even accused bassist Nikki Sixx of ‘gaslighting’ him about his diminishing guitar skills and even claimed that Sixx ‘didn’t play a single note on the bass as all his parts were pre-recorded during a recent tour. The artist is hoping the lawsuit will force Mötley Crüe to turn over all the financial books so he and his team can see if he is getting a raw deal. Mars helped found Mötley Crüe in 1980 alongside Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee. The group later added Vince Neil as their lead singer before hitting it big. Mötley Crüe announced at the time that John 5, who previously played in the band Marilyn Manson, would take over for Mars.
Even in the high-glitz world of rock n roll, people argue and disputes can be found. They are EVERYWHERE! And when those things negatively impact YOU and/or YOUR business including bankruptcies, landlord/tenant matters including unlawful detainers, contract issues, nuisance ADA claims and even collections, call in your good guy business litigator, Dean Sperling to resolve YOUR matter with YOUR best interests in mind!
More on the case: