Singer Ashanti testified in federal court yesterday in a bid to fend off a lawsuit by a former producer who knew the pop diva as a teen and who now is seeking royalties from later albums – to the tune of $2.3 million.
Genard Parker won the first round last year when a federal jury found that Ashanti had violated a recording agreement signed when she was 16.
Now Parker hopes to cash in on three of her award-winning albums.
Asked why she parted ways with Parker in October 1997, Ashanti said, “I wanted to follow my dreams, be a singer. [In] the situation I was in, I wasn’t able to do so.”