
Annoncering

Lester: That's on my Facebook page, my website.Are you angry about what happened to you?
I wouldn't say I'm angry. I'm disappointed. You don't get anywhere being angry.Do you think the contracts you signed were deliberately exploitative?
It was wrong. I'd just put it that way.Why didn't you cross your 'T's and dot your 'I's a bit more before you signed?
When you're a young group, you listen to people say: "We're going to make it better." And that never works, because if they were going to make it better they woulda made it better. Young musicians are still caught in the same situation 'cos they wanna be heard. God knows, The Chambers Brothers were not the only ones. And some of them have come forward and some of them haven't. When you're told: “Go get a lawyer,” and they know upfront that you really can't afford a big business lawyer to do this for you, you're caught between first and second base.
Annoncering
I had a business where I'd pick up containers from the airport, bring it to peoples' homes: you do what you gotta do.Is it true that Yoko Ono once bought you a house?
She didn't buy me a house. She… a house was found for me by Sweet Relief, who help musicians who are fallen. Yoko and two or three other people came forward with donations, and I was able to move out of the hall where I was sleeping then into rented accomodation. She was very supportive. Originally, her donations were for me to get my health better. But if you're going to the doctor all the time, at some point you gotta go back to the situation that is causing that, which was me sleeping in that place, and the condition I was in.How did you and Yoko meet?
We met at [US daytime TV talkshow] The Mike Douglas Show. Her and John Lennon were the hosts of the show. And they had us on. We already knew John. She's an angel of all kinds.

It's been a very busy morning, and a very busy night. My phone is beeping right now: people are calling while I'm talking to you. They can't believe that this has happened to us all these years.Can you name any others who are in the same boat as you?
There's so many. And so many different members of different bands. There's a lot of cases where two or three members did well and two or three didn't. So many, I can't begin to give you names.
Annoncering
You know, I was at a party at the house of a prominent music manager, that my lawyer had invited me to. And he showed us both round his wonderful, massive mansion of a house, and he said: “Yeah, my client bought me this house. But he doesn't know it…” In the frontyard, there's five Rolls-Royces that he owns. He manages this friend of mine. But he didn't know who I was. And I just had to get out of there at that point.It's like, I was in a restaurant once in New York where all the music people go, having my hamburger. There were these four guys talking I overheard: one the accountant, the other the lawyers for RCA Records. And one of them said: “How are we doing with the new financial department for the RCA headquarters?” And another said “Oh, the Billie Holiday re-issue has paid for that three times over.” And these are the things we live with, it became a real part of people's lives: take what you can while you can.I know this one artist, he's been singing, singing and singing every year. He has more succesful Christmas albums than anyone else I know. He's still paying off his house. He started when he was 18, and this home was one of the first things he bought, but he's still paying for it 50 years later. How is that right?

No, no, no. My friends and my son, we've been working on this for the past eight or nine years. We have all the contracts, all the record labels, all of that information together. It's a good time because of Occupy. It just so happens. My wife is a paralegal. So she's been able to do a great job preparing all of the paperwork.So you're going to sue them directly? This isn't just a press campaign?
We're gonna correct our situation.Do you think you'll succeed?
I hope so. I'm gonna do it for every musician that's been treated the way I have. That's my prayer. And I hope God answers my prayer.Even if you're not God, you can still help Lester out by donating to his cause here.Follow Gavin on Twitter: @hurtgavinhaynes
