My Dream, which Malta’s representative sang about at the 2010 Eurovision contest, became a nightmare thanks to a “trigger happy” music producer, a judge noted yesterday.
Mr Justice Anthony Ellul said it was ironic that Thea Falzon Garrett’s winning song – My Dream – had turned into an experience that was “her nightmare”.
At a time when she was supposed to be focusing on the competition, she was faced with a garnishee order for €15,000 and another for €18,333 on the eve of the competition in Oslo.
The judge added that when one noted that such warrants were issued against a young girl who was at the start of her musical career one could only conclude that they were moves aimed at demoralising the singer and her family.
Mr Justice Ellul dismissed a claim by Grace Borg, a former Maltasong chairman, that Public Broadcasting Services and Ms Falzon Garrett had breached an “exclusive artist management agreement”.
Ms Borg and Andrea Milana, in their personal capacity and on behalf of Exotique Record Label, sued Ms Falzon Garrett and PBS accusing them of violating an exclusive artist management agreement the pair had signed with Ms Falzon Garrett (which agreement was the subject of another court case still pending before the court). Mr Justice Ellul said PBS had not been a party to the agreement, which Ms Falzon Garrett’s parents had signed with Ms Borg and so could not be found to have violated its terms and conditions.
Neither had Mr Milana signed the agreement. Furthermore, the agreement was the subject of other litigation pending before the courts, so Ms Borg’s action for damages was untimely.
The court added that relations between the singer’s family and Ms Borg had soured before the Malta Eurovision Song Festival final in February 2010. In fact, Ms Falzon Garrett told the court that Ms Borg had demanded payment of €15,000 from her parents with the sole aim of disturbing her concentration before the final.
The singer added that Ms Borg had tried to stop her from participating in the contest and had written in an arrogant manner to PBS, the Ministry for Education and even to the Prime Minister.
It also resulted that Ms Falzon Garrett had lost sponsorships she was due to receive from Go plc and from Debenhams.
Ms Borg appeared to have acted in a trigger happy manner, the judge said.
Lawyer John Vassallo appeared for Ms Falzon Garrett.