Onetime Everly Brothers guitarist Don Peake had dropped his lawsuit seeking profits he said were owed him for his work on the soundtrack for the 1977 horror film “The Hills Have Eyes” and its 1985 sequel.
An attorney for 83-year-old Don Peake filed court papers Friday with Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Michael Whitaker asking that his client’s case against Blood Relations Co. be dropped “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. The court papers do not state whether a settlement was reached or if Peake is not pursuing the case for other reasons.
Peake’s suit sought a court declaration that he was entitled to both a computation and an accounting of profits allegedly owed him for both films.
Co-defendant Peter Locke was identified in the suit as a “proprietor” of Blood Relations. However, defense attorneys stated in court papers that Peake’s claims were barred by the statute of limitations and that the plaintiff had received “all of the relief to which he is entitled.”
According to Peake’s suit, the musician and Blood Relations signed an agreement in April 1977 for him to compose, arrange, score, produce and supervise the recording of original music to be used in the soundtrack of director Wes Craven’s “The Hills Have Eyes.”
Peake fulfilled all his obligations, according to the suit filed last Nov. 23, which further stated that his music is “an integral part of the film and its soundtrack.”
The film was released in theaters and continues to be distributed through outlets such as Amazon Prime and similar streaming services, the suit states. The film’s sequel features flashbacks from the original movie and also is distributed through Amazon and other streaming platforms, according to the suit.
The 1977 agreement does not have a method for computing profits or a time by which profits are to be reported or paid, according to the suit.
Peake has contacted Blood Relations during the last two years requesting a computation of profits received by the company for the two films, but company management has denied having an obligation to provide the information, the suit stated.
But according to the defense attorneys’ court papers, “The Hills Have Eyes” was released by Vanguard Releasing, a distribution corporation then wholly owned by Locke; however, the sequel was never released and therefore did not produce net proceeds received by the producer under which Peake would be entitled to a share.
The film had been “played out” domestically in 1984 and Vanguard ceased doing business, the defense lawyers state in their court papers, adding that Vanguard’s records were placed in a storage facility under the Santa Monica (10) Freeway and all of them were destroyed when part of the freeway collapsed during the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
The movie did not generate revenue in 1984-2003 and it was handed over to an independent distributor in 2003, the defense attorneys stated in their court papers.
Along with the Everly Brothers, with whom he began his career as lead guitarist in 1961, Peake has played with the Jackson 5, Glen Campbell, Marvin Gaye, Elvis Presley, Sonny and Cher and the Wrecking Crew. He was the first white guitarist to play with the Ray Charles Orchestra, with whom he both recorded and toured for 10 years.