Trial begins to decide how much Ashanti owes Georgia man

<p>Grammy-winning singer Ashanti testified Monday that she was a teenager trying to follow her dream when she worked a decade ago with a producer who is seeking more than $2 million for helping her start her career.</p><p>Ashanti, now 25, was the first witness at a trial to determine how much she owes Genard Parker, who now lives in Georgia, after another jury last year concluded she broke a contract with him.</p><p>She was introduced to jurors by her lawyer, Alan Cominsky, who said during opening statements in federal court in Manhattan that Parker should receive no more than the $50,000 a judge has already concluded must be paid.</p><p>Latif Doman, representing Parker, now of Ellenwood, Ga., told the jury that contracts Ashanti signed with Parker in 1996 will prove she owes $2.3 million, a percentage of the 6 million copies she sold of her first three records.</p><p>Doman said even fired employees get their last paychecks and his client was waiting for his.</p><p>"Not only did he not get his last paycheck, he did not even get a thank you," Doman said.</p><p>Ashanti said she and her mother went to Parker's home in 1996 to work on songs that could launch her career.</p><p>Cominsky said Parker "couldn't deliver for her" and eventually signed a release that permitted her to go to another record company.</p><p>Although Ashanti signed a deal that called for Parker to receive some money from the sales of her first three records with her next record company, the company ultimately rejected her so she owed Parker nothing from that arrangement, the lawyer said.</p><p>Ashanti said she met Parker at a time when she only wanted "to follow my dream."</p><p>"I wanted to be a singer," she said.</p><p>She testified she was recording songs in a studio in his living room.</p><p>Ashanti said she had not seen Parker since 1997 and had not heard from him or attempted to reach him.</p><p>"I had no information on Genard to invite him anywhere," she said. "I did not ask my mom to invite him to the studio."</p><p>A jury last year concluded she owed Parker $630,000, but U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff rejected most of the award on the grounds that the jurors did not have adequate facts to determine damages so they were left to speculate.</p><p>"Ashanti," the singer's debut album, won a Grammy Award in 2003 for best contemporary R&B album.</p><p>The singer, whose full name is Ashanti Douglas, also has acted, recently playing a cheerleader in the movie "John Tucker Must Die."</p>

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