The Guess Who’s founding lead guitarist Randy Bachman and frontman Burton Cummings have settled a lawsuit over the famed Canadian band’s name that they launched in October 2023 against the group’s two other surviving original members, bassist Jim Kale and drummer Gary Peterson.
According to an official announcement, Bachman and Cummings have acquired the rights to “The Guess Who” trademark. The settlement ends a lengthy legal dispute Bachman and Cummings had with Kale and Peterson. In the wake of the agreement, the four former bandmates “have expressed their appreciation to one another in a spirit of unity going forward.”
[RELATED: Documentary About Guess Who/Bachman-Turner Overdrive Star Randy Bachman’s Long-Lost Guitar to Premiere at Toronto Film Festival]
“We are pleased to have reached a resolution that honors our shared history and allows us to move forward with a new sense of purpose and camaraderie,” Bachman said in a statement.
Cummings added, “We are committed to preserving and celebrating the legacy for our fans around the world.”
About the Dispute and the Lawsuit
Bachman and Cummings’ lawsuit charged that the then-current version of The Guess Who had been engaging in false advertising, and sought $20 million in damages.
During the 1980s, Kale gained control of the rights to the group’s name, and Petersen eventually joined Kale as partners in the band. Kale and Peterson, with various other musicians, began touring and recording as The Guess Who. Kale retired from touring in 2016, leaving Peterson as the only original member in the group. In recent years, even Peterson did not always appear at the band’s shows.
Meanwhile, Bachman and Cummings, who wrote or co-wrote and sang most of The Guess Who’s biggest hits, were unable to tour and record under the band’s name for decades. They did hit the road together several times, though, under the moniker Bachman Cummings.
In their lawsuit, Bachman and Cummings claimed that the version of The Guess Who controlled by Kale and Peterson were “using photographs that include Cummings and Bachman to create the false impression that” what the suit referred to as “the hired cover band” is “the original The Guess Who.” The complaint also charged that the “false” Guess Who were using audio from the original group’s hits to promote the then-current band.
Meanwhile, in recent years, the latest Guess Who incarnation released a couple of new studio albums—The Future IS What It Used to Be in 2018 and Plein D’Amour in 2023.
Cummings and Bachman on the Settlement and The Guess Who’s Future
Cummings and Bachman chatted with Rolling Stone after the settlement was announced.
“If there is a group out there calling themselves the Guess Who, it’s going to have the lead singer who wrote the songs and the guitarist who made the riffs,” Burton said.
He added, “It’s been a very stressful period, but I’m relieved that it’s behind us and confident that I can come back to the States with my band and play all my songs. … There’s been a fake band out there for a long time using the real records to promote their shows, and it handcuffed me in many ways.”
Bachman, meanwhile, told Rolling Stone, “It was an impossible task, and suddenly the impossible became possible. We fulfilled our dream of writing hit songs and performing them, then to have it kind of fall apart. To be able to come back together as partners and shut down the bad reputation being formed by the false advertising and fraudulent band is really good, and I look forward to what’s ahead.”
Cummings and Bachman have yet to announce any joint plans. Burton currently is playing shows with his own solo group, while Randy is touring with a new version of his other famous band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
What About the Other Guess Who?
According to Rolling Stone, the band that had been touring and recording as The Guess Who for many years has updated its Facebook page with the name Plein D’Amour, the title of the group’s 2023 album.
Cummings told Rolling Stone that that band “is going to have to rebrand anything they’ve done that says Guess Who on it.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0