Tabitha's Secret

Tabitha's Secret was a band that was formed in March of 1993 in Orlando, Florida. It was originally comprised of Rob Thomas as vocals, John Goff on guitar, Jay Stanley also on guitar, Brian Yale on base, and Chris Smith as the drummer. Six months later, in September, Paul Doucette joined the band as another percussionist only to replace Chris Smith a year later, making him the lead percussionist.

Some of their most popular songs are "And Around," "Dear Joan," "Unkind," and "3 am" which is the same song that is now played by Matchbox Twenty.

The Split

In 1995, songwriter/producer and representative for Atlantic Records Matt Serletic approached the members of Tabitha's Secret concerning a long-term record deal. However, Serletic was most interested in helping Thomas finding his voice and defining an artist then he was in the band Tabitha's Secret.

Although, Jay Stanley and John Goff didn't want a long-term record deal. They felt it was better to sign for a one-recored deal until they saw how things were going. Conversely, Thomas felt that they should take the offer as it was a great opportunity for the band.

Because Stanley and Goff were resistant to sign and pressure from the record company to drop the two guitar players, since they weren't interested in them anyway, Thomas, Yale, and Doucette decided it was best to part ways with the other members of the band.

Later, Thomas stated that Tabitha's Secret was only a big local band and wouldn't ever be anything more. Doucette agreed with him saying that they had put effort into making the band succeed, but with little success.

Splitting the band landed Thomas, Yale, and Doucette a two-record deal with Atlantic Records. With their two guitar players gone, Atlantic introduced the trio to Adam Gaynor a rhythm guitar player and Kyle Cook a lead guitar player. The five now Matchbox Twenty which is a world renowned band.

The Lawsuit

When Matchbox Twenty, the the band that formed after the split, debuted its first album, "Yourself or Someone Like You", Jay Stanley sued Matchbox Twenty for royalties because he claimed he owned the rights to the the song 3am, which appeared on the newly released record.

Stanley stated that he was paid for the original recording sessions of the song when it was performed by Tabitha's Secret.

The lawsuit lasted five years and was settled in 2000.

Stanley later released a collection of the rough demo mixes in 1998 cleverly entitled "Don't play with Matches."

Records

Although the band never released any records while they were together, Jay Stanley release three albums after getting the rights to the recordings of Tabitha's Secret. He released a rough demo mix, "Don't Play With Matches" in 1998, to satisfy the hard-core fans and the "Live" record in 2000. Later, Stanley joined with Tony Miceli and engineer George Spatta to re-mix, re-master, and overdub the original recordings and put them into the album "Tabitha's Secret?" which was release in late 2001.

External links

• Tabitha's Secret Official Archive