“That was my decision that I made. Nobody forced me to,” she said.
She said she doesn’t have time to deal with it while running two churches — including the Monroe mega-church where a massive statue of Jesus recently burned to the ground.
Like nearly every other point since the family struggle began after Perry died in 2005, son Bryan Wayne Perry disagrees.
“She has stepped down to avoid further complications in court,” Bryan said.
Court records value the Perry trust at more than $500,000, consisting largely of a catalog of more than 1,200 songs written and recorded by Perry and appraised at $437,442.
Perry, who grew up in Hamilton, put out numerous big hits recorded by Tim McGraw, the Backstreet Boys and others. Royalties from the songs brought in more than $100,000 in 15 months in 2008 and 2009, according to court records.
Bryan Perry and Jones are using the catalog to catapult production, publishing and distribution businesses they’ve started in Nashville.
“We’ve got three 55-gallon drums (of audio cassettes) that we have to go through and transfer,” Bryan said of the enormity of the catalog. He said they are putting out an album of their father’s Christian songs this year.
Though both sides said the settlement has brought closure, the family will never be mended, Bryan said.
Songwriter’s son accuses Solid Rock co-pastor of taking money, songs
If the battle over Darrell Wayne Perry’s estate were put into lyrics, it would be a heart-breaking tune of family infighting and mistrust.
Since Hamilton-born Nashville songwriter Perry died in 2005 of throat cancer, his son Bryan Wayne Perry has hurled countless accusations against Perry’s sister, Darlene Bishop.
Bryan Perry has accused Bishop — co-pastor of the Solid Rock mega-church in Monroe — of taking money from the trust that her brother left her to oversee, of mismanaging it and even counseling his father not to see a doctor and rely instead on his faith in God to heal his cancer.
Bishop filed in Butler County Probate Court on Monday, July 26, to settle the estate after agreeing to hand over control of the trust to Perry’s son Justin Jones, 31, who plans to use it to launch a music company with Bryan.
This has done little to stem Bryan Perry’s anger.
“I will never, ever ever forgive Darlene Bishop for what she has put my … family through by dragging us through this,” he said.
Bishop denies everything, saying if money were missing the court would have found it during the years of litigation. The court sided with her in 2007, denying a motion by Perry’s children to have her removed as executrix of the estate because it found she had done nothing wrong.
And she said she urged her brother to visit the doctor. Perry was the one who woke up one day and believed he was healed, she said.
“I was the one that took him to chemotherapy,” she said. “We believe in faith and prayer, but we believe in doctors as well.”
And the fight isn’t over. Still missing is a “hook book” of hand-written songs and recordings that have not been released.
“It was at his house,” Bryan Perry said. “Darlene or one of her thugs has got it.”
Bishop said it would break her brother’s heart to see them fighting like this.
“He would turn over in his grave if he knew the things those boys had done to me,” she said.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or jsweigart@coxohio.com.
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