Ex-touring musician Aviva Maloney suing The Monkees (UPDATED)

4/1/2016

Aviva Maloney, who first performed in The Monkees' touring band in 1996, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against The Monkees and Warner Music Group on Friday, April 1, 2016. Maloney was present for each successive Monkees concert tour until 2014. That spring, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork embarked on a short tour without Maloney in the lineup. She briefly returned to the backing band with her last appearances taking place in April 2015 in Rama, Ontario, Canada.

The complaint alleges that Maloney was replaced by a younger woman with no apparent disabilities, which seemingly refers to Circe Link, who accompanied The Monkees onstage for the first time in 2014. The suit states that Maloney was fired over the phone by Wayne Avers, who has acted as The Monkees' musical director and guitarist since 1996.

Here is the text of the Hollywood Reporter article regarding the lawsuit, which was published late this evening on their website:

Ex-Musician Sues The Monkees for Discrimination, Wrongful Termination

A 57-year-old woman who toured with the band for nearly two decades says she was fired because she did not look good on stage and fell asleep at a rehearsal, according to the lawsuit.

An ex-musician for The Monkees says she was fired in a four-minute phone call after playing with the band for nearly 20 years and later was told it was because she didn't look good on stage, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday.

Aviva Maloney is suing Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, two founding members of The Monkees, Warner Music Group and others involved with the band's tours for discrimination, harassment, retaliation, failure to accommodate disability and wrongful termination, among other claims.

Maloney, 57, plays saxophone, clarinet, keyboards and other instruments and says she was the first female member of the band when she joined them on their 30th Anniversary Tour in 1996.

She says she's been described as Davy Jones' best friend, and after his death in 2012, defendants gradually reduced her role in the band "because of her legally protected characteristics" including her age, sex and disabilities.

A few days after she was fired in 2015 by musical director Wayne Avers, Maloney claims Tork told her husband that she should join Overeaters Anonymous because she was eating to resolve emotional problems and didn't look good on stage. She claims Tork also complained that she didn't wear makeup on stage and had fallen asleep at rehearsal.

Maloney says she was diagnosed with lupus, which causes fatigue, and rheumatoid arthritis in 2003 and defendants knew of her illnesses because they were like family.

"Defendants failed to recognize that Plaintiff's falling asleep at a rehearsal, if it happened, may have been a symptom of her disabilities, warranting reasonable accommodation," states the lawsuit.

Her replacement is a woman under 40 years of age with no real or imagined disabilities, according to the complaint, which Maloney says is proof she was fired in substantial part because of her illness and age.

Additionally, Maloney claims defendants intentionally misclassified her as an exempt employee to avoid paying overtime and she wasn't paid what she was owed at the time she was fired.

She's suing for restitution, past and future lost wages and statutory and punitive damages.

Representatives of the band and WMG have not yet commented on the lawsuit.

Here's a photograph of Davy Jones and Aviva Maloney performing at the Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida on June 6, 2011.

(Photo by Jeremy L. Roberts)

UPDATE 6/29/2017:

Fired Monkees musician settles discrimination, harassment lawsuit: Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork not monkeying around

8 Comments

rob

4/2/2016 10:29:13

wow! sad but I'm not surprised.. Aviva was the band. I saw her up close at BB Kings NYC at Davy's show Feb 2012,..When she was sacked in 2014 it was so obvious.. Aviva brought so much joy and happiness to the entire band (I thought) and us fans! plus she is an amazing musician..

4/2/2016 10:33:17

..maybe file this under "Monkees Miscues" in the future..

4/2/2016 11:35:09

At first glance on the surface it looks like Aviva has a case.. this is last thing the boys need to shadow is the 50th year reunion.. unfortunately this could grow it's got all the ingredients age, appearance and physical disabilities.. I hope they get this settled quickly because it could be a constant question to be asked when they start the interview circuits..
For the most part the boys have managed to avoid the tabloids in their 50-year history..

Scott

4/2/2016 14:52:07

Really rob? I don't think this will be on anyone's radar screen during the 50th anniversary reunion year. The Monkees are Micky, Davy, Peter and Mike -
This will be worked out either in court or via a settlement. Either way, few people will care about this disagreement. God bless this woman, however, this isn't going to cast a "shadow" on The Monkees.

Chris

4/3/2016 10:18:49

My mother in law is related to Aviva and she is one of the nicest ladies I have met. To me this is such a f'ed up thing that Micky and Peter have done. Hmm nobody goes around and mocks Peter after his cancer. Also last time I checked, Coco isn't the most attractive female around. I'm sure Davy would be so proud his ex bandmates are treating his friends so well(hence the sarcasm).

LEEB

4/3/2016 19:53:00

This will be settled quickly. Warner has deep pockets and has no interest in this going to a jury trial.
An interesting footnote-- I remember reading that Peter first brought Aviva into the band.
My best to her.

Rich C

4/6/2016 21:01:35

It's all politics. Saw an interview with somewhere about backing band member Dave Alexander where he commented very candidly about being left out of one recent tour. Each touring Monkee has a say on the one or two backing band members they want to bring along. And there are a limited number of slots. Aviva was one of Davy's picks so she was on immediate thin ice when he passed. To be honest, her big contribution was sax on alot of Davy's songs. This sort of politics happens all the time in the corporate world. Not saying that's right.

Rita

4/21/2021 09:26:55

If I got to be true I don't find anything wrong what's happend. And according to Peter, for me he didn't say anything wrong. Well are we sure she said true? - No. But even so, we can't blame the especially Peter. Did he say she was fat? - no, he only said she couldn't stop eating and that's a problem to the band that have to take breaks because of her eating. And let alone her sleeping during rehearsal. If it was that way I'm not surprised they fired her.