Prince 'one of least clear people' firm has dealt with

The musician Prince was described in the Commercial Court today as being "one of the least clear people" that a senior executive at one of the worlds' largest entertainment management companies has ever dealt with.

Marc Geiger, who oversees the contemporary music division at the agency which acts for the Oscar winning artist, said Prince was a "very special" individual who "changes often", and that he had not given "specific perimeters" when he instructed his agents to organise a series of European performances.

Evidence was being heard on the third day of an action brought by concert promoters MCD for €1.7m in compensation against Prince and his agents William Morris Endeavor Entertainment LLC, Beverly Hills, California.

The action arises out of the cancellation of a show scheduled to take place at Dublin's Croke Park on June 16, 2008.

Prince, whose real name is Prince Rogers Nelson, claims that the agency had no authority to bind him to the gig but they have rejected this claim.

William Morris, one of the world’s largest entertainment management companies said that at all times it acted as agents for Prince under an agreement of August 2005 with express authority to negotiate on Prince’s behalf for the purpose of booking gigs.

The agency says the decision to cancel the Dublin event was outside of its control and has denied negligence, breach of duty and misrepresentation.

Today, Mr Geiger told Ms Grainne Clohessy SC, for William Morris, that he and his colleague Keith Sarkisian, attended a meeting with the artist on June 8, 2008, less than two weeks before the Dublin performance was due to take place.

He said he was "advised" at this point, that the artist would not be performing at Croke Park.

The agency was of the belief that Prince had confirmed his intention to play Dublin in late February.

The court heard that Prince told Mr Geiger "you know I don't work like this", and that he would not be performing a "one-off" gig which was not part of any European tour.

Mr Geiger said he told the artist that this was "patently untrue".

Prince, the court was told, then became "very agitated" and said it was the agency's "problem" as they had got him "into this mess".

The meeting ended in what was described as a "terse fashion" .

Prince's assistant, with whom the agency dealt "the whole time", did not speak during the meeting but Mr Geiger "believed" she hugged him and his colleague as they left.

The court was told that the previous year, a proposal was put forward for Prince to play a European tour and that the artist had requested the agency "make this happen".

Marc Geiger told Paul Screenan SC, counsel for Prince, that "no specific perimeters" were laid down in respect of the proposal, "one-off gigs or not". He said the agency was working to secure the most amount of money possible, and that Prince was expected to net between $1.5m and $2.5m to play Dublin.

In reply to questioning from Mr Screenan SC, on whether the artist indicated he was prepared to perform a one-off gig in late February 2008 when the Dublin concert was confirmed with MCD, Mr Geiger said, at that point, they were still "presenting" Prince with offers.

The court was told, that at that point, $22m was being put forward for seven shows.

Mr Geiger confirmed to the Commercial Court, Mr Justice Peter Kelly presiding, that "no attempt" was made to "see what would happen" if Prince rejected the offers of other venues after the Dublin performance was booked.

But he added that Prince played one-off performances "often".

No "specific" reason was given to the agency for why Prince wished to cancel the Dublin performance but Mr Geiger told the court that during their June 3rd meeting, a "suggestion was put down" on the basis that there might be health reasons behind the cancellation. He said there were "lots of rumours going around" and that it was "suspected something was going on".

Mr Geiger also told the court that he "didn't know" whether a "deal points agreement", which records the key terms of an agreement, had been shown to Prince "personally".

But he told the court that email correspondence between the artist's assistant and the agency indicated that "a further boiled down summary of the basic points" had been sent.