The Go-Go’s originally planned a farewell tour back in 2010, but the band kept chugging along, even after the departure of original bassist Kathy Valentine back in March. But now that split over “irreconcilable differences” has turned predictably ugly, with Valentine filing a lawsuit to stop a shell game seemingly designed to deny her any profits from the band going forward.
Valentine owns a fifth of Ladyhead LLC and Smith-Pocket Industries, the entities that conduct the still-booming Go-Go’s business. But the rest of her former bandmates—Belinda Carlisle, Jane Wiedlin, Charlotte Caffey, and Gina Schock—have now created a new company, GoGoCo Corp., with plans to license everything to that new entity and, Valentine argues, "freeze out" Valentine from the band and “dilute [her] share of band revenues” from 20 percent to 2 percent. She also claims that the move will cost her "substantially more than $1 million," though the exact number has yet to be proven.
This isn’t the first time a bassist has sued the remaining Go-Go’s, as founding member Margot Olaverria sued the group for kicking her out in the early 1980s. But Valentine played in the band for three decades and contributed to hits like “Vacation” and “Head Over Heels,” and is thus presumably entitled to her full cut of residuals, rather than share dilution in what's shaping up to be the '80s power-pop version of The Social Network.