NORTHWEST PA. Troubled tune: Vocal group hall faces financial and legal troubles

Organizers vow that the hall won't close for good.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- When the Vocal Group Hall of Fame inducted its first class in 1998, organizers envisioned honoring and protecting musical legacies through its museum full of memorabilia including old records, photographs and shimmering costumes.
Six years later, the Sharon hall has shut its doors and canceled its 2004 induction ceremony amid financial troubles and two recent lawsuits filed by its co-founder.
But operators say the squabble with businessman James Winner Jr. won't close them down for good.
"There is no doubt the Vocal Group Hall of Fame will live; it just probably will not be in Pennsylvania," said Bob Crosby, president and chief executive.
The lawsuits
Winner, owner of a hotel and the company that makes The Club vehicle anti-theft device, filed a lawsuit Dec. 23 against the hall and its foundation, seeking $10,000 he said he loaned them in 2002.
This week, Winner and his wife, Donna, filed a second lawsuit, claiming the Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation owes $50,000 in back taxes on the couple's Sharon property that houses the museum.
The lawsuit also claims memorabilia in the hall was removed in violation of the lease. Crosby said those items were removed for safe keeping when the hall closed earlier this year.
Richard Moroco, the lawyer who filed the lawsuits on behalf of the Winners, declined comment Thursday. A woman who answered the phone at Winner's office in Sharon said he unavailable until next week. Winner has said in the past that he believed the hall was being mismanaged.
Museum's beginnings
Tony Butala, a founding member of The Lettermen, started the museum with Winner. To be inducted, a group had to have a minimum of three-part harmony, 20 years in the music business and a hit song.
The first class of inductees included The Platters, The Supremes, The Andrews Sisters and the Beach Boys. More than 90 groups have been inducted since then, many of them performing in concerts at the ceremony.
"There's a place for it, and it exists in the minds and hearts of all the vocal groups we've touched already," Butala said.
Butala's own collection provided most of the museum's exhibits including the gowns The Supremes wore on their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.
But the museum failed to generate interest from the public, and few were willing to pay admission.
Winner pulled out in 2001, so the foundation was formed, Crosby said. The group replaced admission charges with a donation box -- but few visitors contribute, and Crosby said the hall hasn't had luck attracting business sponsors.
Butala bought an old theater in town, and he and Crosby are seeking a state grant to remodel it and move the museum there.
Hugh Geyer, a tenor in The Vogues, said he is saddened that artists who deserve recognition won't get it if the hall closes for good. He still tours with an original member of the group, inducted in 2001.
"Finally there was a venue for people to be recognized from the past," Geyer said.