 
|
|
|
Page 1
|
|
|
For many artists, employing a parent as manager simply boils down to the issue of trust ...
|
|
|
Page 2
|
|
|
Having your parent manage you carries some heavy risks, a child psychologist warns ...
|
|
|
Page 3
|
|
|
Believe it or not, people have told Beyoncé's father, 'I think your daughter sucks' ...
|
|
|
Page 4
|
|
|
Most parents don't know how to manage, dawg, 'American Idol' judge Randy Jackson says ...
|
|
|
|
Browse Bands by Name
|
|
Or enter a band name below to search:
|
 Bands Main
|
|
|
|
|
|
Another advantage of parent managers is it's a way for busy musicians who are rarely in the same city for longer than a few days to see their families on a regular basis.
"We've gotten to see the world together," said Mathew Knowles, who manages Beyoncé and his other daughter, singer/actress Solange, while his wife, Tina, is their stylist. "The traveling and the experiences that we've had, it's been really, really a wonderful, wonderful thing."
DeGarmo has certainly enjoyed living the "Idol" dream with her mom. "She's like a best friend, you know," she said. "It's been her and I for so long, it's like, why stop the situation now?"
Actually, there are a number of reasons, according to Gerald LeGagnoux, a veteran child psychologist in Los Angeles.
"The parenting role is unique in an individual's life, and when you start to have parents function in other capacities you start to have compromises in that parental role," LeGagnoux said. "There's going to be a temptation to keep the money, keep the control in-house, as opposed to sending it off to someone else, but with that comes the loss of that unique parenting role, and that's the biggest risk. And if something goes wrong, the child doesn't just lose a manager, they lose a parent, and that has long-term consequences even for adults."
LeGagnoux also sees the communication between an artist and their parent manager as a challenge. While Mathew Knowles insists that being Beyoncé's father allows him to be "blatantly honest" with her, LeGagnoux believes it's more common for parents to do the opposite and sugarcoat negative comments.
"The other question is, can the child be an honest listener?" LeGagnoux said. "If a parent says, 'I think this would be better for you,' the child may say, 'Oh Mom ... ,' 'Oh Dad ... ,' and they then revert back to what the agenda of the parent was outside of the business. And then this is no different than the girl or the guy who is going off to the prom saying, 'Oh mom, leave it alone. My corsage looks fine.' So can they take it as direct information? They may be able to take it better from somebody who didn't have that previous role with them."
Another of LeGagnoux's concerns is that the parent could be living vicariously through their child, which can be strenuous and awkward for the child. "And those are things that you really don't want to have to think about as a distraction from your own career," he said.
Jonetta Patton doesn't live through her son, Usher, but she does admit to living for him.
"Sometimes, when I look back, I truly have denied myself," Patton, who has managed Usher for more than a decade, said outside of her son's dressing room recently. "I really have denied myself and put him first, but I've never ever thought that our relationship would end [badly]. My focus has always been Usher. The focus has never been about me. It has always been about making him as big as I could possibly make him."
The biggest negative for Patton has been dealing with a lack of respect within the music industry.
"From the very beginning, I knew that Usher was a star, but people would say, 'Yeah, of course. That's your kid. All parents think their kids are great,' " Patton said. "But I actually knew that he had something that was really special. And I think being a parent manager, a lot of times they don't take you seriously."
To this day, after all of the success Patton has earned with her son, Usher is bombarded by what she calls "the vultures" — other managers trying to pull him away from his mother.
"He's 26 years old and people are whispering in his ear, 'You're mommy's boy,' " Patton said. "At first it was, 'She don't know what she's doing.' And then when he really blew up, it was, 'She can't take it to the next level.' Now he's a big superstar and it's, 'We can do it better.' I don't think anyone can do it better. He's at the top of his game and I led him there."
For Usher, the vultures are a nuisance, if anything. His problem with having his mother manage his career is that it's given him a split personality.
"A lot of times I have to talk as Usher and then I have to talk as Big Time to my momma, but then we go back to Usher, and then we go back to Big Time," Usher explained, Big Time being his entertainer alter ego. "It gave me this Jekyll and Hyde thing I got going on here," he added, holding his hand across his face as if splitting it in two.
|
|
|
|
Photo: Getty Images
|
|
|
|
|
