BILLY JOEL - JOEL SUED BY FORMER DRUMMER

JOEL SUED BY FORMER DRUMMER

BILLY JOEL is facing a lawsuit from his former drummer, who has accused the PIANO MAN of failing to pay him royalties for the last 10 years.
Liberty DeVitto, Joel's drummer of 30 years, filed suit against the rocker and record company Sony Music on Tuesday (19May09) in Manhattan Supreme Court.
DeVitto insists he was shocked when he was abruptly kicked out of Joel's backing band in 2005 - the same year the singer checked himself into rehab for alcohol abuse.
He tells the New York Post, "Everybody always assumes that you make a lot of money because you worked with Billy Joel. It didn't happen that way. People get fired, they get severance or insurance for a certain period of time. I didn't even get a phone call. It was cold."
And the drummer, who now works as a studio musician, believes he was booted after he took part in an intervention with Joel over his addictions.
He adds, "I thought I could say things to him as a friend... I think he's insensitive to other people. This is what I would tell Billy: 'If you only had talked to me... this probably never would have happened.'"
DeVitto claims he does not know how much he is allegedly owed because it has been about 10 years since he has seen accounts for the singer's sales, which exceed 110 million albums in his career in the U.S. alone.
His lawyer Brian Gucciardo says, "It's all subject to an audit. We're talking a long period of time and worldwide sales."
Joel has declined to comment on the suit.