Pennsylvania adds music legislation

Pennsylvania this week joined South Carolina and North Dakota in making itself off limits to the great pretenders of rock music history. Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell signed legislation designed to stem the tide of acts using the names of the Drifters, the Coasters, the Platters and dozens of other groups without having direct ties to the original performers.

“They undercut the legacy of those artists by pretending to be them,” said Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, former singer with the nostalgia group Sha Na Na and head of the Truth in Music Committee at the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in Sharon, Pa., which is lobbying to get similar laws passed in all 50 states. California is among nearly a dozen other states debating the measure now or scheduled to take it up soon.

The “Truth in Music” legislation allows state attorneys general to pull the plug on impostor bands without an injunction and seek civil penalties of up to $15,000 against the musicians and those who promote them. The legislation, which requires a group have at least one member from the original recording group to use the name, does not apply to tribute acts that clearly market themselves as such.

“They’re taking our history, but they don’t have our DNA,” says Mary Wilson, original member of the Supremes, who said she knows of venues that prefer hiring impostor bands over the authentic ones because they are cheaper.

“It really is a form of identity theft. It really is.”

-- Randy Lewis