Former Guns N’ Roses Manager Is Suing The Band Over Allegedly Blocking His Memoir

Former Guns N’ Roses manager, Alan Niven, is suing the band, claiming the group is blocking him from releasing his memoir due to a “broad strokes” written confidentiality agreement signed in 1991.

Guns N’ Roses are about to enter the (legal) jungle, as former manager Alan Niven is suing the band, claiming the ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ group is blocking his memoir, Sound N’ Fury: Rock N’ Roll Stories, from being released.

According to a filing obtained by Loudwire, Niven’s lawsuit is centred around a 1991 confidentiality agreement with the band, which Guns N’ Roses allegedly claims the former manager’s memoir violates.

In their suit, Niven would claim that the confidentiality agreement itself is not enforceable, as not all members of the group had signed it. Members Slash, Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin had signed the agreement; however, Axl Rose allegedly didn’t.

Niven would cease being Guns N’ Roses’ manager in 1991 after Axl Rose claimed he “could not work with him anymore” and fired the manager over the phone.

Looking to cast more doubt on the confidentiality agreement, Niven would argue that he was“under severe personal distress” when he signed the buyout agreement, which included the confidentiality agreement. The suit would go on to state that Niven had been “betrayed by his former employee, the band’s lawyer, and his band,” and was “forced to take a buyout that was far less than he would have received had he stayed with GNR.”

The former manager would also argue that the members of Guns N’ Roses themselves had already violated the confidentiality clause, noting how members of the group had spoken or written about him in ways that he would describe as “inflammatory or even defamatory”.

The suit would call out Slash and Duff McKagan’s own writing about Niven “in a manner that violates the agreement”, and alleges that Rose has repeatedly spoken about Niven in ways that “violate the agreement.”

Niven would further target the vague parameters of the confidentiality agreement as he would claim that both himself and members of the band had spoken publicly about their history and had never encountered any issues. He would also claim that a member of Guns N’ Roses would encourage him sometime between 2015-2018 to write about his experiences managing the band.

Sound N’ Fury: Rock N’ Rol stories was scheduled to release in late June; however, Guns N’ Roses would send Niven’s publisher, ECW Press, a letter in May invoking said confidentiality agreement. “[D]ue to GNR’s threats, Sound N’ Fury languishes in a warehouse,” the filing would allege. “Thousands of copies of Sound N’ Fury have been printed and continue to incur storage expenses. The release date has been moved several times. The public is expecting the book to be released, and Niven has accrued several advance orders.”

As a result, Niven is also seeking damages for interference with his ability to release the book through his publisher well as a judgment of non-enforceability for the confidentiality agreement.