The Platters' Herb Reed Takes Back Stolen Identity, Releases New Album

Herb Reed Retains The Platters Name

More than four decades of consumer fraud and identity theft has ended, thanks to the diligence of HERB REED. a member of the legendary vocal group THE PLATTERS.

NEVADA-based U.S. District Court Judge MIRANDA M. DU closed the last case in a quartet of legal battles that began half a century ago. The historic litigation helped clear up the ownership, performance rights and other intellectual property of the history-making band, clearing the way for their first official release in more than half a century.

REED, the founder and naming member of the multi-platinum recording act, and his fellow original singers TONY WILLIAMS, DAVID LYNCH, PAUL ROBI and ZOLA TAYLOR, had their identity ripped off by a proliferation of impostor groups that, to this day, continue to deceive the public. 

According to longtime oldies agent and music researcher CORD COSLER, President of  the FLORIDA-based CELEBRITY DIRECTOR ENTERTAINMENT. "At one time, there were almost 200 groups of 'PLATTERS' playing around the world."

Working under REED's direction, his friend and manager, FREDERICK J. BALBONI JR., hired BOSTON-based intellectual property expert ERIC MILLER SOMMERS to unravel the tangled web of legal battles that had occurred since 1969. Veteran LAS VEGAS entertainment and IP litigator JOHN KRIEGER of GORDON & SILVER was later added to the team as local counsel, as was the international law firm of HOLLAND & KNIGHT in NEW YORK and FLORIDA.

The decisions allow THE PLATTERS to reestablish their importance in the pantheon of popular music, by not only taking back their legal rights, but also by taking complete control over their legacy and recordings.

"HERB was so happy he literally broke down and cried," said BALBONI, recalling the moment that he told REED THE PLATTERS name had been returned to him.

The historic legal decision was achieved with a strategy co-conceived by BALBONI and GEORGE HOWARD (former RYKODISC President, original founder of TUNECORE, manager of CARLY SIMON and advisor to FORTUNE 500 companies), finally allowing THE PLATTERS to be presented in a manner that speaks to their enduring musical and cultural legacy. This paves the way for BOSTON-based HERB REED ENTERPRISES — the management, label and publishing firm operated by BALBONI, JR..— to eliminate the thousands of fraudulent recordings, the remaining impostor groups and marketplace confusion cluttering the legacy of a truly iconic and trendsetting quintet.

This final chapter in a long saga now allows HRE to announce the release of "Back to the Basics LIVE!" with THE PLATTERS, the first fully-authorized recording of the band's music in over 50 years.

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