Kids: Where's dad's money?
Hamilton songwriter hit it big; aunt says estate
nearly worthless
BY SHEILA MCLAUGHLIN | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITERDarrell "Wayne" Perry's career finally paid off in the '90s after he plugged his
songs in Nashville for nearly two decades.
The Hamilton native worked in near-anonymity until artists like Toby Keith,
Tim McGraw, the Backstreet Boys, Lorrie Morgan and Holly Dunn took his
songs to the top of the charts.
The hits brought Perry fame, a steady income and a collection of awards for
his lyrics. Yet when he died of throat cancer a year ago at age 55, Perry's
estate appeared to be almost broke.
Perry's four children don't believe it.
A court fight over Perry's estate pits
his three sons and a daughter
against their aunt - Darlene Bishop,
a 61-year-old high-profile pastor at
the Solid Rock Church, an
evangelical megachurch along
Interstate 75 that sports the
country's second-largest sculpture
of Jesus.
The children say Bishop owes them
proceeds from a life insurance
policy, royalties from Perry's songs
and at least three boxes of unpublished songs and notes. Combined, these
items could be worth more than $1 million, the children say.
They also contend that Bishop influenced their father to sign a will giving her
full power over their inheritance, and committed fraud by publishing a book
saying God had cured their father from his cancer, even though she was told
he was dying.
Bishop dismisses the allegations as a pack of lies.
"If you took all the lies out of there, you might have 5 percent truth," Bishop
said. "The 5 percent is that I took care of (Perry). He lived with me for a year
and a half."
A LEGAL BATTLE IN BUTLER COUNTY
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| Printer-friendlyTHE ENQUIRER/GLENN HARTONG
Darrell Wayne Perry made it as a songwriter in
Nashville. He died in May 2005.
Songs hit it big on the charts
Wayne Perry had a voice that could fill
any song with emotion. But his real
talent was in his writing, his peers in the
music business say.
Starting out singing soul, rock and
country in Greater Cincinnati clubs,
Perry hit the big time in Nashville with
some hit tunes in the early 1990s.
The Hamilton native wrote or co-wrote
580 songs, according to titles listed with
the American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers. His work
included gospel, country and other
styles. To see the entire list, go to
www.ascap.com
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Perry's children have launched a two-pronged legal fight against Bishop in
Butler County Common Pleas Court.
On one front, they are asking a probate judge to throw Bishop out as
executor of their father's will and as controller of a trust Perry wanted set up
for his children. They say the trust account referred to in Perry's will doesn't
exist.
And, they want to know
insurance money? The $32,000 in gold coins? The 2003 Lincoln Navigator?
Their dad's Alvarez guitar? His various country music awards? And most
important, the boxes of notes and unpublished work?
: What happened to the royalty payments? The lifeTwo of Perry's grown sons - Bryan Perry, 36, of Fort Lewis, Wash., and
Justin Jones, 27, of Carlisle - are contesting their father's will in probate
court.
A daughter, Olivia Nicole Perry, 24, of Carlisle, and an 11-year-old son,
Oliver Christian Perry, of Proctorville, Ohio, also are staking claim to their
father's assets. The siblings came from Perry's two marriages and another
relationship.
On a second front, Perry's children sued Bishop last month in civil court,
claiming, among other things, fraud and wrongful death. The suit alleges that
Bishop, who claims God healed her of breast cancer in 1986, hastened
Perry's death by convincing him to delay cancer treatment for months in
favor of prayer and faith.
"Wayne was, at the end, very upset with himself because he eventually went
to the hospital," said Dayton attorney David Brannon, who represents Perry's
children.
"He was crying and in tears and making statements to Darlene that, 'I'm
sorry, sister. I had to go to the hospital. I couldn't be healed the way you
were healed.' "
They also have sued Arlene Parker, Bishop's personal assistant. The
children allege Parker helped launder some of Perry's royalties while he was
still alive so he wouldn't have to pay more child support.
'A FANTASTIC SINGER'
Perry got his start in the music business playing in rock and country bands in
the 1960s and 1970s, performing in bars throughout Cincinnati and
Hamilton.
Randy McNutt met him in 1970 when Perry applied for a clerk's job at the
Mosler Safe Co. in Hamilton, where McNutt worked.
On the side, McNutt was a fledgling music producer. Perry played guitar and
sang in a band called Young Breed. The two quickly joined creative forces.
The duo eventually headed to New York and Nashville with Perry's first
record, "Mr. Bus Driver," in hopes of landing a recording contract.
"He was a fantastic singer. He had a voice that was extremely commercial,"
McNutt said. "Some actors have a presence on film. Wayne had a presence
on tape. There were better singers, but there was none that had more
emotion."
Nashville turned them down.
In Cincinnati, a once-thriving music scene was drying up. McNutt, who later
Among his most notable songs (dates
reflect when albums were released):
"Not a Moment Too Soon," album title
song, performed by Tim McGraw
(1994).
"Anywhere for You," performed by the
Backstreet Boys (1997).
"What Part of No (Don't You
Understand)," performed by Lorrie
Morgan (1992).
"I'll Be There for You," performed by the
Backstreet Boys (1999).
"A Woman's Touch," co-written with
Toby Keith (1997).
"There Goes My Heart Again,"
performed by Holly Dunn (1989).
"Every Second," recorded by Collin
Raye (1991).
Charismatic leader, lavish life
Darlene Bishop has gained a reputation
as a charismatic Pentecostal preacher
whose testimony is rooted in the power
of prayer, claiming it cured her of breast
cancer in 1986.
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became a reporter at The Enquirer, encouraged Perry to continue writing
music, to focus on country-western, and to head back to Nashville.
Perry traveled back and forth for a while, but eventually stayed in Nashville
while chasing his break.
"I remember being at work and he'd call me and say, 'I'm very disappointed.
I'm supposed to get a contract for my songs, and it didn't work,' " McNutt
said. "I told him to, 'Hang in there. Eventually you'll be doing something. You
have too much talent.' "
Perry's breakthrough came in the late 1980s when Holly Dunn recorded his
song, "There Goes My Heart Again." It became a Top 10 hit.
A decade later, his résumé included collaborations on songs that were
recorded by several big-name country artists, as well as the Backstreet
Boys.
He scored a No. 1 hit single in 1991 for "What Part of No (Don't You
Understand)" on Lorrie Morgan's platinum "Something in Red" album. Much
of the time he worked under contract as a staff writer for Zomba Enterprises
and BMG Music Publishing.
Then suddenly, in March 2003, he packed up and left Nashville.
He didn't tell even his best friends why.
"He disappeared one afternoon," said Bobbie Borchers, a Northern Kentucky
native who lives in Nashville and co-wrote songs with Perry. "He finally called
me and said, 'I've moved back home where my parents are. They are really
frail.' He wanted to be there at his sister's because he wanted to cut a gospel
album."
The real reason: five months before he moved, Perry was diagnosed with
cancer of the tonsils. Long a religious man himself, he decided to come back
home to seek help from his even more spiritual sister, Darlene.
Perry moved in and with Darlene's guidance started praying for a miracle, his
children said.
Borchers eventually learned the truth about his best friend's condition when
Perry's son Bryan called him in late 2003 to say his dad probably wouldn't
live to see Thanksgiving.
Perry did survive to see the holidays, and another year beyond that.
Eventually he released a CD of Christian music called "The Same Man."
He died on May 15, 2005.
DOCTOR GIVES TERMINAL DIAGNOSIS
Bishop says in her book "Your Life Follows Your Word," that God "cured" her
brother's throat cancer.
Bishop also frequently mentioned Perry in her sermons, some of which were
videotaped and appear on her Web site. Perry even appeared as a guest on
"Sisters," a Christian talk-show launched in 2005 by Darlene Bishop
Ministries.
The show, often taped at Solid Rock Church, is broadcast through several
Christian cable channels.
The fourth episode of "Sisters" focuses on Perry's cancer. It includes a film
clip, dated Jan 1, 2004, that shows Perry's emaciated body. Then months
She is president of Darlene Bishop
Ministries and co-pastor of the Solid
Rock Church in Monroe, along with her
husband, Lawrence. The elaborately
decorated Spanish-style campus is
known by many area drivers for its
six-story sculpture of Jesus that faces
Interstate 75.
Bishop, 61, is a Hamilton native who
married her husband when she was 17.
Bishop has four children and recently
became a great-grandmother.
Bishop spends much of her time
traveling nationwide to preach at
Christian women's conferences and
other events on the Christian lecture
circuit across the country. She also has
opened a home for pregnant teens on
the church grounds and an orphanage
in Brazil.
Bishop leads a lavish lifestyle:
She lives at a sprawling $2.5 million
horse farm on a hill overlooking
Interstate 75.
She drives a $75,000 Land Rover.
She makes $350,000 a year as
president of Darlene Bishop Ministries.
She employs three of her children in the
ministry, paying them each an average
annual salary of $75,000.
How much is Perry's estate worth?
Lawyers for Darlene Bishop, executor of
Wayne Perry's estate, estimate his
estate's net worth totaled about $24,000
when he died. Perry's children dispute
these figures, estimating that the value
of his songs and other assets could
exceed $1 million. These figures reflect
estimated assets and debts filed by
Bishop's attorney in reports to Butler
County courts:
Assets
$158,000: House at 870 Helsinger
Drive, Monroe
$32,267: Gold coins
$29,894: 2003 Lincoln Navigator
$14,024.50: Proceeds of personal
property auction
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later, Perry appears on "Sisters," with his hair grown back and looking much
healthier.
But, while Bishop continued preaching about her brother in late 2004 and
early 2005, Perry had been told he was dying.
Bishop also knew doctors had diagnosed him as terminal, according to a
note that Perry wrote to his ex-wife in October 2004, shortly after he agreed
to begin chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Perry sent Janet Perry a copy of an oncologist's letter that said that Perry's
cancer was terminal.
"This condition is not recoverable," Dr. Albert S. Malcolm of Signal Point
Hematology/Oncology in Middletown wrote.
A handwritten note from Perry at the top of Malcolm's letter asks his ex-wife
not to discuss the contents of the letter with their young son, Christian.
"Keep in mind, this is what they say and not what I say," Perry noted. "I will
live. But the fight for my life and my faith is not over. Only you and Darlene
know this."
Despite the letter, Bishop continued to promote the book and the story of her
brother's healing. In fact, the book that claims God cured Perry's cancer was
added to Bishop's online catalog on Dec. 20, 2005 - seven months after
Perry died.
In an interview with The Enquirer, Bishop said she felt her brother was
healed at the time she wrote the book because he was in remission.
"The doctors told him he was a miracle. For a year and a half, Wayne was
totally cancer-free. The doctor said there is no cancer," Bishop told The
Enquirer. "It came back. A little nodule came back. But, for a year and half
he was cancer-free. He traveled with me and everything."
Perry's sons say he was never cancer-free.
Instead, family members say Bishop played a role in convincing their father
to reject traditional cancer treatment by telling him that God would heal him.
"She made him believe and if he believed any other way, he was bound for
hell and bound for death," said Perry's son, Justin Jones.
In her interview with The Enquirer, Bishop denied that she ever influenced
Perry against cancer treatment. She said she "begged" Perry to accept
treatment.
"Wayne made all his decisions on his own. I influenced him for nothing,"
Bishop said. "Wayne was his own person. He made a lot of crazy decisions
in his life, but they were all his."
She said Perry refused to go through treatment after learning that his only
hope for survival was chemotherapy and radiation, which would damage his
vocal cords and ruin his singing voice.
"He told me, 'I'd rather be dead than do this. I will not do this,' " Bishop said.
BISHOP'S CHURCH FLOURISHES
Bishop started her preaching career when she and her high-school
sweetheart husband, Lawrence, opened the Middletown Evangelical Center
in the top floor of a firehouse with a dozen members in 1978.
$14,504.62: First Financial Bank
checking account
$301.11: First Financial Bank savings
account
$108.59: U.S. Alliance credit union
account
TOTAL: $249,099.82
Debts
$7,376.88: Mortgage payments
5/15/05-12/1/05
$123,281.81: Mortgage settlement
costs at closing
$5,846: Total of monthly payments for
Navigator since 5/15/05
$21,327: Balance on Navigator loan as
of 2/24/06
$40,000: Owed to Janet Perry, Wayne's
former wife
$7,085.88: Owed to Ohio Child Support
Central
$142.47: Tennessee Dept. of Revenue
$2,486.19: Middletown Regional
Hospital
$737.99: Signal Point
Hematology/Oncology Inc.
$634: Cincinnati PET Scan LLC
$186: Middletown Emergency
Physicians Inc.
$24.20: Medical Imaging Physicians
$10.34: Esoterix Laboratory Services
$23.60: HMP of Butler County LTD
$5,529: Brown-Dawson Funeral Home
$752.50: Blessings by the Basket
$3,669.55: May's Auctions
$225: Morrical Realty
$150: Douglass Ross, auctioneer
$69: Advantage Self Storage
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By 1992, a growing congregation prompted a name change to Solid Rock
Church and a move to North Union Road - across the interstate from the
Bishops' $2.5 million horse ranch.
Today, the nondenominational congregation has grown into a megachurch
with 4,000 members, live televised services, a talk show, a home for
pregnant teens, an orphanage in Brazil and a fitness center.
Around 1998, Bishop hit the Christian lecture circuit, preaching at women's
conferences that would take her out of town sometimes more than a dozen
days a month.
The nonprofit Darlene Bishop Ministries collected nearly $1 million in 2004
through Bishop's speaker fees, sales of books and CDs, and other sources,
according to tax records.
Tax records also show that Bishop was paid $340,000 for her
50-hour-a-week job as president of Darlene Bishop Ministries, plus a
$10,000 expense account. Bishop also drives a $76,000 Land Rover,
compliments of her ministry.
FAMILY AT ODDS OVER WILL
Perry's will names Bishop as executor of his estate and trustee of a fund that
was supposed to be established for the children. Lawyers for the Perry
siblings say the will gives Bishop more control than they think Perry intended.
They want her removed as executor and trustee or to have a probate judge
modify Perry's agreements to reflect what lawyers think Perry wanted.
The will and trust agreements he left were witnessed by Bishop's assistant
Parker and notarized by her attorney and church member Bill Cummins in
September 2003.
"(The will) gives her sole authority to buy, sell the rights and withhold any
payments to the children, aside from a $500 (basic) trust payment. It gives
her complete discretion to hold this money until the day she dies," Brannon
said.
Perry wanted each child to receive $500 a month from the trust and a
quarter of any proceeds from the recording of already published music,
according to the trust agreement. The trust doesn't say how other property
was to be divided.
Perry left what appeared to be three other previous wills. None is legal
because they were not properly witnessed and notarized. However, Perry did
make specific instructions for some of his personal property in those
documents.
According to court papers filed by Bishop's attorney, Perry left nearly
$250,000 in assets, but more than $225,000 in debts. That leaves about
$24,000, from which legal fees must be paid, according to Cummins.
Not stated in the list of assets: a $300,000 life insurance policy that Bishop
said was left to pay Perry's debts and child support for his youngest son,
Christian.
Also not stated in the list of assets: an estimated value for Perry's songs,
including unpublished works.
The children and their attorney say they believe far more royalty money
exists than court filings from Bishop and her attorney show. As executor,
Bishop is obligated to report all of the assets, the children argue.
$63.56: Fred's Mobile Locksmith
$126.03: Cinergy
$153.13: Monroe Store & Lock
$100: Johnny Allen, coin appraisal
$625: Emily Wood, nurse
$570: Justin Jones, for staying with
Perry
$160: SRC
$570: Micki Perry, for staying with Perry
$400: Gayle Winkler, to pay Brian
Perry's airfare
$2,295: Humphrey's Co. Services
$405: Luff-Bowen Funeral Home
$80: Lindsey Phelps, home cleaning
TOTAL: $225,105.13
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The trust agreement states, and Bishop agrees, that royalties from Perry's
songs belong to his children.
Last month, Cummins filed a statement saying that only $554 in royalties
had been received for the trust since Perry died. Other documents filed by
Brannon show that Perry was paid $20,564 in 2005 from BMG.
Cummins contends that Perry had taken an advance on some of his
royalties.
Others familiar with Perry's work say there should be a lot more royalty
money.
"Based upon the songs and the successes he had, we're talking about over
$1 million in royalties that have been generated going back four or five
years," said Rush Hicks, a Nashville attorney hired by the children to trace
Perry's royalties. "But what we are finding is just a trickle of that."
ABOUT PERRY'S CHILDREN
Brannon says he cannot understand why Bishop would take more than a
year to distribute Perry's estate. The latest lawsuit could drag the case out
for months or more than a year. Bishop has until late this month to respond
to the allegations in the civil suit.
"Why would somebody that is worth that much money need that little bit of
money when Wayne's kids have nothing?" Brannon says.
Bryan Perry is self-employed in the auto body repair and paint business. His
wife serves in the Army. The couple live in Washington state, where she is
stationed.
Jones also runs his own auto painting business and freelances as a talent
scout.
Olivia Perry is a single mom living in Carlisle and working at Meijer.
Christian Perry lives with his mother, Janet, in Proctorville, where he is
home-schooled.
Bryan Perry says his aunt barred him from his father's funeral.
Jones says the only way he could lay claim to some of his father's recording
equipment was to buy it at the estate auction - and now Bishop is trying to
collect $1,400 she says Jones hasn't paid for the gear.
"He's had success, and she's making us feel like he was a broke hobo that
played a guitar on the street," Jones said.
E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com
