Former Black Crowes Drummer Steve Gorman Sues Band Over Royalties

Drummer Steve Gorman is reportedly suing his former band, the Black Crowes, over unpaid royalties.

Even though the band is back together and touring again, Gorman is not among them. He wants to be paid for the revenues that he’s entitled to from the band’s previous albums. The only problem? He’s not entirely sure how much he’s owed.

According to legal documents obtained by The Blast, the 56-year-old musician is alleging that the band’s shoddy accounting left him missing funds that he would be otherwise entitled to. Gorman says that the band recorded and released three albums in the 2000s and he didn’t receive the full amount of royalties that he was entitled to after their initial reunion in 2005.

The drummer has shared his story with the band in his 2019 memoir “Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of the Black Crowes.” Gorman was an original member of the band and served as the band’s drummer from 1989 to 2001. The band went on a four-year hiatus, but he returned in 2005 until they went on yet another hiatus in 2011. Even though they got back together in 2012, they finally called it quits for good in 2015.

Or did they? The band somewhat reconciled in 2019. However, only Chris and Rich Robinson returned to the band with several other backing musicians. Longtime bassist Sven Pipien later returned to the band but Gorman was apparently not invited to return. However, no clear reason was given. It could be due to the lawsuit or perhaps they just had a falling out.

Steve Gorman was born on August 17, 1965 in Muskegon, Michigan. Raised in Maryland, he joined the school band and started playing the snare drum when he was in the fourth grade. He later moved to Kentucky in 1975 and went to school with Clint Steele, an aspiring guitarist. He later went on to become a broadcasting major at Western Kentucky University, but never left his love of music behind him.

He reportedly played drums for several bands, including Alfred & The Stately Wayne Manors, Swale, A Tribute to Elvis and the Ricky Nelson Story. In April 1986, he and a few friends formed the band Lack of Interest and recorded a four-song demo tape called “Content to Sit and Stare” in the school gymnasium.

In February 1987, he joined Steele’s band called Mary My Hope in Atlanta. It was there that he met Chris Robinson and his brother, Rich. When the Robinsons lost their drummer Jeff Sullivan to another band called Drivin n Cryin, Gorman was asked to play on their demo session for A&M records. He ended up playing with the Black Crowes for their first nine albums over 15 years.

In 2004, a year before their reunion, Gorman traveled with the Stereophonics and served as the drummer on several other recordings. He and Nashville friend Nick Govrik are currently members of a group called Trigger Hippy.

In addition to his musical work, Gorman is also a major sports fan. In March 2010, Gorman partnered up with friends Mitch Blum and Brandon Gnetz to create a sports, music, and pop culture podcast called “Steve Gorman Sports!” Gorman frequently speaks about life on the road and talks about sports, music, and other events in pop culture. Although his show was broadcast on a Nashville radio station with producer Austin Huff, he later gave it up in the summer of 2013.

In January 2014, Gorman shocked fans when he announced that he was going to join Fox Sports Radio and host a daily three-hour show with his cousin and co-host Jeffrey Gorman. The show lasted until September 2018, when the Fox News Network announced that they would be removed Gorman’s show from his lineup.

Even still, that didn’t stop Gorman’s broadcasting dreams. In September 2019, one year later, he started broadcasting “Steve Gorman Rock!” on select Westwood One radio affiliates.