Arnold will have an ongoing interest in the group and will be supportive as The Nylons continue their legacy in performance and on record.
Arnold can be reached at arobi44@yahoo.com regarding his activities in stage presentation and consulting.
The group has always been greater than the sum of its parts and The Nylons will continue as a premier force in the world of vocal music.”
The statement is signed by the current members of the group; Garth Mosbaugh, Claude Morrison, Gavin Hope, and Tyrone Gabriel, and does not suggest that there was any controversy regarding his departure.
When his retirement was announced during their Ajax Concert in early March of 2006 (according to a forum poster), there was no mention of anything being amiss. And on the web site’s online forum, the thread discussion about Mr. Robinson’s retirement had several speculations of foul play, but for the most part, people assumed it was amicable, and in the end, no one actually knew what happened.
The thing is, there are two sides to the story. And Mr. Robinson’s side is not a happy one.
“The leaving of The Nylons wasn’t a ‘love-fest’, or even a pleasant departure,” Mr. Robinson said. “It was a forced retirement, hostile take-over, and a conspired collusion between my partner and another band member...”, he added. Mr. Robinson went on to say that he was left without compensation for work already secured, and that there was no warning as to the group’s desire to have him leave. When asked about the reason he was given, Mr. Robinson stated that he was told it was due to a recording of several recent performances that showed him as being “way off”.
“There was never a time when the act didn’t receive a standing ovation and extreme compliments afterwards, where I usually got the most compliments and was named the favorite at signing sessions; that never played well with the others,” Robinson said.
The Nylons’ Canadian Manager, Paul Ryan (of Limelight Management Inc. in Vancouver) had much to say to the contrary regarding Mr. Robinson’s statements.
“I was very surprised to hear all of this,” Mr. Ryan said, when asked for a response. “When we discussed his retirement, he was relieved; this was a mutual understanding,” he noted. Mr. Ryan also said that they are working on a retirement package for him, and have been since the first talks of his retirement. “We want to make sure it is an amicable departure,” he said. Mr. Ryan also said that Mr. Mosbaugh met with Mr. Robinson not too long ago, to help settle the terms of his retirement.
When asked why he felt Robinson made the comments he did, Mr. Ryan suggested that perhaps “after being in the group so long, leaving was proving more difficult than he anticipated, and maybe he’s just having qualms about it.”
Controversy withstanding, there are details that are still being worked out regarding Mr. Robinson’s departure from the group.
Both Mr. Robinson, and the current membership and management of the Nylons wished each other only the best with their futures and their upcoming projects, and expressed a mutual respect for one another, during their interviews.
For more information about the Nylons, visit their web site at http://www.thenylons.com. To reach Mr. Robinson via e-mail, contact arobi44@yahoo.com.
Read more from Candice Helfand here: http://www.xanga.com/jersey_shocker
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