Sexy duo torn asunder
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| Arm |
A sexy look tung singing duo is in tatters and multi-million baht earnings under threat after the junior of the two performers turned on their manager, with the dispute now likely to end up in court.
Arm Chutima, 18, who penned the hit Pu Sao Kha Loh for her friend and co-singer Lamyai Haithongkham, propelling Lamyai to overnight fame on YouTube, last week broke away from the pair’s manager Prachakchai Naowaras, claiming he had not treated her fairly.
She says Prachakchai paid her a pittance compared to the 70-30 split they agreed, and slyly bought the rights to three of her songs, which have since become hits, without disclosing he was now the owner.
In a rolling saga which dominated entertainment news headlines all week, she asked Prachakchai in tears to cancel her contract so she could carry on with her career as a singer.
Her four songs have racked up a combined 600 million hits on YouTube, but Arm says her manager has yet to pay her any share of those earnings, and paid her just 10,000-15,000 baht for each concert appearance, compared to the 35,000 baht which he charges as her fee. If the whole band including dancers go along as well, that can rise to as much as 65,000 baht.
She agrees he has also supported her indirectly by helping pay for alterations to her home, a down payment on a pickup, and several phones. However, they fall short of the deal he had promised. Meanwhile, media reports say her star co-performer, Lamyai, has just bought a Mercedes Benz with 4 million baht cash.
The song Pu Sao Kha Loh came to early prominence after Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha criticised Lamyai’s sexy dance moves which accompanied it as too provocative. She and manager Prachakchai later toned down her squats and body thrusts, and dressed her more sensibly.
While she and Arm initially started their fledgling careers as temple singers, Prachakchai brought them together as a sexy singing duo under his label, Hai Thongkam Records.
Prachakchai, a manager and talent spotter with a potted history, says he molded the duo into the stars they are today. He asked Arm to join him after he found a song of hers on Facebook which pulled in 500,000 “likes” almost overnight.
She travelled to Bangkok on the promise that he would look after her career, and if her songs turned into hits, get her and Lamyai to make an album together. He went to her home in Isan two years ago and signed contracts with Arm, with her parents as witnesses.
Arm, however, said Prachakchai never told her he was buying the rights to her songs. He says he gave her three payments of 10,000 baht, one for each song, out of affection. Her mother, who accompanied her on TV, said Prachakchai had told them not to bother reading the contracts, so they didn’t.
“He said he wanted me to sign so he could take care of me, and to stop others claiming the rights to the music,” Arm said. “Now he says he is the rightful owner and if I sing the songs without his permission he will sue,” she said in tears.
“As far as I am concerned, when the contract runs out, so does his rights to the songs,” Arm said. She has three years left of her five-year contract still to run.
“The last straw came when he cancelled my work, ordered me back home, and told me to return the pickup truck he had bought me,” she said. Arm said she was still friends with Lamyai and bears her no ill-will.
Arm said she had created her own YouTube channel six months ago and started accepting concert work on her own behalf. This had worsened relations with Prachakchai, though she denied it amounted to her starting her own label as he claimed.
The young singer was supported late last week by businesswoman Kessanee Namgnern, who has come forward to act as Arm’s “shield”, especially in the event of legal action.
She says she opened a company with Prachakchai to promote the older singer Lamyai, but when Lamyai started to grow better known, Prachakchai abandoned the partnership, leaving her out of pocket by 130,000 baht.
“I paid all the expenses and never got anything back. He started coming in the office less and less and in the end set up his own company and took Lamyai with him,” she said. “If I hadn’t come forward would the public have known what he is like?
“I hadn’t thought of suing him before now, but his status has changed. Once told me that he couldn’t let me have Lamyai because she was his life,” she said.
Speaking earlier, Prachakchai said he and the two singers lived and worked together like family before he and Arm started having problems a month ago.
She failed to show up for some shows, and got a nose job done without telling him. Earlier, he had accepted a role for her in a movie in which she would play a typical Isan type with a flat nose, not a pointy nose she obtained from the cosmetic clinic.
“I am not game to accept work on her behalf any more if there’s no guarantee she will turn up or not,” he said.
Asked about her share of the concert earnings, he said Arm has only recently reaped publicity from Lamyai enough to sell herself in her own right. “Before, they had to sing together every night, she wasn’t yet in a position to set a price.”
He said his label has another 10 singers and four teams of musicians to accompany the girls. They can perform as many as 6-7 shows a day, charging about 60-70,000 baht a full show. However, none of that success came overnight.
“She is answering like a child. It’s like you win the lottery, and the person who sold the tickets comes back asks for a share.”
He agreed he signed contracts with her before his company was registered, but denied her claim, which she has since retracted, that he was a bankrupt.
“I would like her to come back, under whatever conditions, and we can talk about it. Asked why Lamyai has a Benz, and she has a truck, it’s because Lamyai was a star before she came along,” he said. The saga continues.
May spurns old love Jay
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| May while dating Jay |
Actress Pitchanart ‘‘May’’ Sakakorn says she has no intention of going back to her former love, star footballer Chanathip ‘‘Messi Jay’’ Songkrasin, as life has moved on.
Jay, who is playing on loan to a Japanese football team but is back in Bangkok briefly, last week left May a birthday message on his IG, wishing her the best for her big day.
He also went before the media, his first public appearance in which he agreed to talk about his former love.
Despite leaving her a birthday message, Jay admitted blocking May on his IG friends list, but said it was for his own peace of mind.
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| May |
“I greeted her in the capacity that we were once friends and she made me happy.”
May said fans told her about his birthday message but she was unmoved anyway.
Calling off their three-year pairing last January, May claimed Jay’s family had rejected her, bringing their marriage plans to an abrupt halt.
While she and Jay spoke together on social media initially as both sides attempted to lick their wounds, May said she has now moved on and would not contemplate going back. Nor had his family been in touch.
“I don’t want to talk about him as my life has moved a long way since we parted,” adding she was now talking to someone new, but would rather leave it a while before providing an update.
Speaking about meeting new people in general, she said: “Friends can introduce me to new people, but I prefer to choose for myself. I suffered to this extent...if my mate has no right to choose for himself if he wants a relationship, it’s just rotten,” she said, referring to Jay’s family.
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