MANHATTAN (CN) - A Dominican musician who says he tamed the bawdy bachata claims a New York City radio host defamed him, and demands $5 million for it in court.
Anthony Santos sued radio and TV host Luis Federico Crespo Martinez aka El Pacha, in New York County Supreme Court.
He claims El Pacha, who hosts a Latin music show on New York City's "Mega 97.9," defamed him by telling listeners that the bachatero threatened him.
Santos (Domingo Antonio Santos Muñoz), credits himself in his lawsuit with popularizing and redefining the often-racy bachata, a genre once known in his home country as amargue (Spanish for "bitterness").
"He adopted a soft romantic lyrical style that became more socially accepted than the bawdy style common to bachata before him, and he has quickly become the genre's leading artist, helping to move bachata into the mainstream," the complaint states.
Santos began his career in the early 1990s as a guitar player for Luis Vargas.
He claims that the trouble started over rival bachatero Raulin Rodriguez's May 23 concert at the United Palace Theatre.
El Pacha, who produced the concert, said three days before the show that Santos would perform there to make amends with him, according to the complaint.
Santos says that was false, and that he and his managers told fans so in a press release.
El Pacha responded on his television platform, desafine.net, by falsely claiming that "he had been threatened," according to the complaint.
"El Pacha's false statements about the plaintiff Anthony Santos have been disseminated to promoters, producers, and managers that would seek hire the plaintiff Anthony Santos for bachata performances," the complaint states.
Santos claims the defamation caused him "financial loss, personal injuries, pain and suffering, fear, an invasion of privacy, psychological pain, emotional distress, mental anguish, embarrassment, and humiliation."
He seeks at least $5 million for slander and libel, interference with business relations, negligence and emotional distress.
He is represented by Michael Kushner with the law offices of Javier A. Solano.
A spokesman for Mega 97.9's parent company did not respond to a request for comment.
Pacha is Spanish for pasha, an Ottoman potentate, and also is a Quechua term for the three levels of Inca cosmology.
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