Vampire Weekend are being sued for $2 million (£1.3 million) by the cover star of their album 'Contra'.
Released earlier this year, the artwork for the New York group's second LP features a photo of Kirsten Kennis taken in 1983 by photographer Tod Brody.
Also used to spearhead a marketing campaign to promote the album, the photo caused much online speculation as to her identity after the image appeared as an advert on music-based websites, including NME.COM, plus on fly posters around the UK.
Now as TMZ reports, Kennis filed a lawsuit on Wednesday (July 14) with the Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming that the signature on the release form - which would allow the band to use the image - was forged.
Going on to explain she had no idea the photograph was being used on the album cover, she added that she blamed the band for not verifying the legitimacy of her signature on the release.
The band or photographer have yet to comment on the lawsuit.
http://www.nme.com/news/vampire-weekend/52066However, that's very misleading. From that it sounds like the band is completely to blame. This may certainly not be the case...
You may have heard by now that Vampire Weekend, XL Recordings and a photographer named Tod Brody are being sued for 2 million dollars by Contra cover model Kirsten Kennis. She claims that she never gave permission for them to use a picture that was taken of her in 1983 (back when she was actually a model), and that the photographer basically tricked the band and label into thinking they were buying it legally. She says the band and label are also at fault for not doing due diligence when they paid $5000 for the picture from Tod. She thinks she deserves 2 million because her picture was obviously the reason the band's album was so successful... That's basically the info that most sites are posting, but I obtained a copy of the court documents and there's more...
First of all, her full name is Ann Kirsten Kennis, though when she was a model she just went by "Kirsten". She was a "high-fashion model under contract with prestigious agencies in New York City" in the 80's and early 90's. Her picture has appeared in clothing, jewelry, cosmetics and automobile ads, and for that she was "highly compensated" and "enjoyed numerous assignments".
She lives in Fairfield, CT, and most interestingly, she claims Tod didn't even take the picture. Her real last name doesn't even appear in the contract Vampire Weekend signed when they bought it. The allegedly forged/fake contract is with "Kirsten Johnsen" and signed by "Kirsten Johnson" (yes, the document has the last name spelled two different ways).
If Tod didn't take the picture, I'm not sure how he thought he would get away with it since she would obviously eventually see it. Whether he took it or not, it's still displayed in his portfolio (with "kirsten" in the file name), though his page that displayed the Vampire Weekend album cover is now gone.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/07/who_is_ann_kirs.html