Gamble and Huff respond to O'Jays' suit

Who's backstabbing who?

Last week, the O'Jays, the R&B group whose 1970s signature hits included "For the Love of Money," "Back Stabbers," and "I Love Music," sued Philadelphia International Records and its owners, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, accusing them of theft, larceny and misappropriation of royalties.

Yesterday, Gamble and Huff said that they're the ones who are, in effect, being stabbed in the back.

In a statement released by their public relations firm, Gamble and Huff responded to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, in which O'Jays founders Eddie Levert Sr. and Walter Williams claim that the record company failed to comply with a 2006 court-ordered agreement to pay them royalties. The two O'Jays demanded $3 million in back payment and punitive damages.

Gamble and Huff, the legendary Sound of Philadelphia songwriters, producers and pioneering African American executives, say that they first heard of the lawsuit when news of it appeared in The Inquirer on Jan. 9.

"We were surprised," Gamble and Huff say in the statement, "as only days before Mr. Gamble had exchanged New Year's greetings with The O'Jays founding members Eddie Levert and Walt Williams. . . [and] the filing of a lawsuit had never come up."

The silky soul music that Gamble and Huff made with the O'Jays has gotten renewed exposure in recent years through television licensing deals. "Love Train," which Gamble and Huff wrote, is used as the soundtrack to a series of Coors Light ads, and "For the Love Of Money," penned by the pair along with Anthony Jackson, is the theme song to Donald Trump's

The Apprentice

reality TV show.

The Philadelphia International Records catalogue has received even more exposure on the top-rated

American Idol

, on which Gamble and Huff guested last season. The duo - who in March will be the first recipients of the Ahmet Ertegun Award from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - have been invited back on the show this year.

Yesterday, the business partners said that "it would be premature to fully respond to the O'Jays' claims" at such an early stage in the lawsuit.

They went on to say that the group's allegations of theft, larceny and misappropriations of royalties "seem to grossly overstate their legal claims. We believe their claims boil down to nothing more than a contract dispute for higher royalties. To the contrary, we expect that the facts will show that rather than being owed anything, The O'Jays have been overpaid."

Darnell Clark, spokesman for the O'Jays, expressed shock at the claim that the O'Jays had been overpaid.

"The attorneys have no comment at this time," Clark said of the dispute, which seems like a sequel to the Gamble and Huff-penned 1972 O'Jays hit "992 Arguments."

"I can't get any official comments from Eddie or Walt because they're out of the country doing an event in the Bahamas," Clark said.