For chart-topping stars of yesteryear, keeping up with the lifestyle you once enjoyed can be a challenge. Divorce attorneys in Pasadena have seen their share of once-popular pop stars file for bankruptcy, lose everything and end up in the headlines for going broke. Jackson 5 singer Jermaine Jackson made headlines last year for supposedly owing the mother of his children $100,000 in back child support. Now '80s R&B sensation Stevie B is the latest fading star facing deadbeat dad claims.
The singer, best known for his 1990 hit "Because I Love You (The Postman Song)," had a rude awakening last Friday after his concert in Springfield, Massachusetts. Stevie B, whose full name is Steven Bernard Hill was greeted and then arrested by officers after a performance at the Mass MutualCenter. Stevie B's ex-wife claims he owes a staggering $400,000 in back child support for their two daughters, ages 17 and 18. The star spent the weekend and better part of the next week in jail. He was released on Tuesday after making a payment of $11,000. The conditions of his release required him to agree to make a lump some payment of $10,000 and weekly payments of $921.
Stevie B told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the amount of the child support due is wrong.
"I always have provided for all my children," he said.
Stevie B's lawyer confirms his claim that there is an "enormous discrepancy" between what Stevie B believes he owes and what his ex-wife claims he owes. The attorney says he plans to present documentation of the payments his client has made in a hearing on November 18. He claims the singer made the current payments as a gesture of goodwill.
"I'm looking forward to the future and a wonderful relationship with my beautiful daughters," Stevie B said.
Stevie B currently lives in Las Vegas with his second wife of nearly twenty years and their three children.