And now two members of Sugar Ray are suing Mark McGrath over alleged selfish behavior
In the wake of similar allegations aimed at Third Eye Blind's Stephan Jenkins, two former members of Sugar Ray are suing Mark McGrath, claiming the frontman’s diva behavior cost the band millions of dollars. The lawsuit comes from bass player Matthew Murphy Karges and drummer Charles Stanton Frazier, who are accusing McGrath of a “series of self-serving and vindictive actions.” According to the 29-page complaint, “McGrath spent the last year engaging in a bitter campaign to destroy the personal and professional reputations of Frazier and Karges,” but only after he licensed the Sugar Ray name to a “newly created shell corporation” and “unlawfully divert[ed] an addition 48 percent of the band’s revenues into his own pocket.” Both Frazier and Karges have been members of the band since its inception, with Frazier teaming with Rodney Sheppard in the late ‘80s to form The Tories, a group that would later become Shrinky Dinx, and then Sugar Ray.
The suit claims that McGrath was essentially absent from the band from 1995 to 2010, even during the height of the band’s popularity, when songs like “Fly” were tearing up the charts. Frazier and Karges claim that McGrath was moody, suffered from “erratic behavior,” and shirked his band duties after he started co-hosting Extra. Frazier and Karges also allege that McGrath demanded $10,000 per live show—more than anyone else in the group made—and insisted on flying first class while everyone else flew coach. He would also allegedly only perform on weekends in convenient locations, a decision that the plaintiffs say cost the band millions of dollars.