- Sep 25, 2000
- 22,135
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Virgin Dodges Aaliyah Funeral Costs?
Virgin Records, the late R&B phenom's record label, has apparently reneged on a promise to cover the costs of preparing and shipping the bodies of the singer and eight others back to the United States.
Butler's Funeral Home spent $68,000 preparing and transporting the bodies of the 22-year-old singer and her crew after they were killed in an August 25 plane crash in the Bahamas. Loretta Turner, director of the Nassau-based funeral home, says former Virgin executives Ken and Nancy Berry agreed to cover all of the costs incurred.
But since then, the husband-and-wife team has left the company, and the bill has been ignored.
"Because Aaliyah was, in their words, 'high profile,' they asked us to expedite things. So we were working over the weekend to get the bodies out as quickly as possible," Turner tells E! Online. "[The deal] was all verbal, but the truth of the matter is, they knew they were obliged. They contacted all of the families themselves, sent us all of the necessary information and told us not to deal directly with the family members, that they would be responsible."
Since that time, Turner said she has endlessly tried, via phone calls, letters and faxes, to contact company executives--to no avail.
Spragg says former Virgin chief Ken Berry also promised to reimburse the Haughtons for funeral costs. "Those payments were never made to the family to reimburse those costs, and the costs were substantial," he says.
Virgin Records, the late R&B phenom's record label, has apparently reneged on a promise to cover the costs of preparing and shipping the bodies of the singer and eight others back to the United States.
Butler's Funeral Home spent $68,000 preparing and transporting the bodies of the 22-year-old singer and her crew after they were killed in an August 25 plane crash in the Bahamas. Loretta Turner, director of the Nassau-based funeral home, says former Virgin executives Ken and Nancy Berry agreed to cover all of the costs incurred.
But since then, the husband-and-wife team has left the company, and the bill has been ignored.
"Because Aaliyah was, in their words, 'high profile,' they asked us to expedite things. So we were working over the weekend to get the bodies out as quickly as possible," Turner tells E! Online. "[The deal] was all verbal, but the truth of the matter is, they knew they were obliged. They contacted all of the families themselves, sent us all of the necessary information and told us not to deal directly with the family members, that they would be responsible."
Since that time, Turner said she has endlessly tried, via phone calls, letters and faxes, to contact company executives--to no avail.
Spragg says former Virgin chief Ken Berry also promised to reimburse the Haughtons for funeral costs. "Those payments were never made to the family to reimburse those costs, and the costs were substantial," he says.
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