Oh Ginuwine! Say it aint so! News hit today that the R&B singer is facing some seriously hard times, and is on the verge of bankruptcy. But thanks to pre-trial hearings (that also involve his former Executive Producer), he also learned he's divorcing his wife Solé!
Deets inside, plus exclusive updates we've learned....
How the mighty have fallen. Ginuwine may have seemed to be back on a path of redemption and sustainability when it was announced that he would be 1/3 of the group TGT, along with Tank & Tyrese. But it seems not enough money is coming in to support his (ex?) wife Solé, their PLENTY of kids, and expenses.
According to the NY Daily News, the "Pony" singer is on the verge of bankruptcy...and he's got more problems than just mula:
The news of the downfall came during a pretrial hearing pitting Ginuwine — real name Elgin Baylor Lumpkin — against Robert Reives, executive producer of his hit debut album, “The Bachelor.”
“Mr. Lumpkin is very close to declaring bankruptcy,” Ginuwine’s lawyer, Bruce Beckner, said. “He owes my firm a ton of money and a bunch of other people a ton of money. He owes Uncle Sam 300-odd thousand dollars in back income taxes.”
Whoa. And the revelations continued:
Reives says he is owed royalties from a $1.25 million five-album deal Ginuwine signed with Sony, and seeks as much as $250,000.
Ginuwine argues that Reives’ claim falls outside the statute of limitations, and that he isn’t owed anything. The two sides will argue their case in Manhattan Federal Court Monday.
But here's the kicker, it was revealed at the hearing, that Ginuwine's money woes stem from the DIVORCE from his wife Tonya M. Lumpkin (aka Solé). Oh?!
We'll let you know what comes of that court room meet-up. But in the meantime, we did our own asking around to dig for more info. And here's what we've learned:
We're told that Solé was allegedly Ginuwine's business manager, at least she acted as such, for SEVERAL years. She was the main point of contact for promoters/event planners/venues who wanted to book Ginuwine to perform. The business-manager relationship began to come to an end, though, some time this past spring.
A former member of Ginuwine's management team tells us that the singer made far more money than people would think. He raked in at least $75k-100k/month while performing overseas and elsewhere, allegedly. He would allegedly do shows for $25,000 a pop, and would have at least 3-5 booked every month. And this was before TGT.
We're told he allegedly made pretty good money with TGT as well, but thanks to having to pay for more expenses like bands, a split with groupmates, and other musical expenses, it was less money made than when he was solo.
Our source tells us they are shocked by this bankruptcy discussion. But said source also tells us the rift between Solé and Ginuwine has been brewing for over a year now. So a split is not too surprising.
EXTRAS:
1. Well-known D.C. club promoter Marc Barnes was arrested for misdemeanor second-degree theft and destruction of property, all stemming from a Liberian woman's ID being taken and shredded at The Park at Fourteenth due to "fake ID allegations". STORY
Photo: Ginuwine