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Color Me Dissolved, R&B Singer Tells Court

INDIANAPOLIS (CN) - Color Me Badd's original front man should not be welcomed back, his former band mate claims in court, noting substance-abuse issues that hurt the group before.

Kevin Thornton filed the complaint on Jan. 22 in Marion County Superior Court against Bryan Abrams and Mark Calderon, the two other original members of the R&B vocal group.

The band behind "I Wanna Sex You Up" allegedly replaced Abrams in recent years with a new singer, Martin Kember, but Abrams has recently convinced Calderon "to allow him back into the band to the exclusion of Kember," according to the complaint.

Questioning whether Abrams has resolved the substance-abuse issues that affected his "ability to function in the band" back in the '90s, Thornton says that Calderon and Abrams are now trying to exclude him from their business entity, CMB Entertainment LLC.

Color Me Badd's early albums, "C.M.B." and "Time and Chance," reached platinum status in the early 1990s, but the disbanded in 1998 after the release of "Awakening."

When the R&B vocal group reunited in 2010, "Abrams informed Thornton that he was sober and had been for a time," the complaint states.

"In fact as it turned out Abrams had not been sober," Thornton continues.

"As the band began to do shows Abrams problems became increasingly apparent and caused significant negative publicity for the band and the asset of the LLC."

It has been just over a year since Abrams announced his voluntary departure from the band via Twitter amid his escalating conduct, Thornton notes.

Kember's "chemistry" with the band has brought it "international recognition ... [and] several significant bookings," according to the complaint.

Thornton says CMB Entertainment should be dissolved since it was created under false pretenses, noting that "Abrams' statements that he was sober at the time CMB were formed were false and fraudulent."

Excluding Kember also puts the LLC at risk since the bookings were made based on his billing in the shows, according to the complaint.

Abrams has had problems with the law before, including guilty pleas for drunken driving and domestic violence.

In addition to dissolution, Thornton's complaint specifically asks the court to declare the legal rights and status of the band members with regard to their corporation.

Thornton also seeks damages for emotional distress, claiming that Abrams engaged in extreme conduct toward him to humiliate and exclude him from the band.

A week before he filed the suit, Thornton tweeted his former band mates a message that said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," and included two images of religious prayers.

Thornton is represented in court by attorney Jeffrey Meunier of Carmel, Ind.

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