# Tabitha's Secret

Tabitha's Secret was an American rock band formed in March 1990 in Orlando, Florida. It was originally composed of lead vocalist Rob Thomas, John Leslie Goff and Jay Stanley on guitar, Brian Yale on bass (Colin Chrisman was the original bass player), and Chris Smith playing drums. In September 1990, Paul Doucette joined the band as a second percussionist, only to replace Chris Smith entirely a year later. Some of the band's most popular songs were "And Around", "Dear Joan", "Unkind", "Forever December", "Paint Me Blue", and "3AM". The group is best known as a precursor to Matchbox Twenty, which was formed by Thomas, Yale, and Doucette after the breakup of Tabitha's Secret.

## History

Before the band broke up, the individual members of Tabitha's Secret signed their first management/development contract, (individually and collectively),with Rickey Lee Reynolds, owner of 123GO! Entertainment. Tabitha's Secret? (1994 cassette) Management-123GO!,Rickey Lee Reynolds.

## The Split

In 1995, the band interviewed several managers and selected Kevin O'Malley, then manager of Spider Monkey, a regional band enjoying a great deal of success at the time, to represent them. O'Malley immediately connected the band with a publicist, agent Chris Tanner out of Nashville and several record company reps including Kim Stephens, a promotions and A&R rep for Atlantic Records. Kim Stephens brought the band's demo to Jason Flom, then President of Atlantic's Lava sub-label. O'Malley arranged a showcase at Potbelly's in Tallahassee, FL and Flom was sold on the band's material, which included the future hit "3 A.M." Kevin O'Malley's brother John, Jay Stanley and John Goff financed a new recording sessions in Atlanta at Triclops Studios, which yielded recordings of new material (the songs Tired, and Swing) as well as refreshed versions of "Forever December" and "3 A.M." these recordings were to be the first 4 songs recorded for the bands first major label release and were used to get record contract offers from both Atlantic and Hollywood Records.the band had planned to use the financing from the major label to record another 6 to 8 songs for the bands debut release.
But that year, songwriter/producer and representative for Atlantic Records, Matt Serletic, approached Thomas behind Stanley and Goff's back and other members of Tabitha's Secret concerning a long-term deal with his production company, Melisma, which up until that time, Serletics Melisma Productions never even existed. This type of deal was never talked about as an option with the band. So up until then Jay Stanley and John Goff , Brian Yale and Paul.Doucette always believed that the band would signing an album deal directly with the label and not with Serletic's non existent production company. However, after performing showcases for both Atlantic and Hollywood Records in late May and early June 1995 the bands attorney Al Schlesinger esq. Received the deal offers from both Atlantic and Hollywood Records to sign the band Tabitha's Secret and all its members. It is commonly believed that Serletic and his attorney David Manyel esq.of the law firm.Katz, Smith and Cohen out of Atlanta were plotting to form.a production company owned by Serletic in order to gain control of the band and a major percentage of the income from any record deal. Also Serletic was more interested in helping put his friends in the band as replacements for Stanley and Goff as the guitar players... His neighbor Kyle Cook and Adam Gaynor an employee of Criteria Studios in Miami who became friends with Serletic during the recording of Collective Souls 2nd record for Atlantic, recorded at the famous Miami studio which Serletic co produced with Ed Roland. Serletic approached Thomas behind the bands back and was convincing Thomas that he would help him find his voice and did so in secret behind the band Tabitha's Secret members backs.
At that time mid June 1995 Stanley and Goff's were told by Thomas that the record contract offers from Atlantic and Hollywood Records were only for him and he was the only one offered a recording deal even thou at that point on time Thomas had not seen any deal offers from either Atlantic or Hollywood Records. And even thou the bands attorney Al Schlesinger esq. had already received via fax the record deal offers from both Atlantic and Hollywood Records to sign the band Tabitha's Secret and all its members. Serletic along with his attorney David Mantel.esq. continue to pressure Thomas to convince him to leave the band and take the deal for with Serletics so called non existent production company Melisma for himself. Stanley and Goff were told by Thomas that he was signing with Serletics company and he might consider keeping Brian Yale on bass and Paul Doucette on drums because as he put it " Paul is my good luck charm " and Stanley and Goff were pushed out of the deals that were offers to them as members of the band and partnership Tabitha's Secret. Forcing them to fight for what they had worked so hard to accomplish.
Serletic's then used his own personal manager and accountant and installed them to handle Thomas's affairs. Shortly after that behind Stanley and Goff's back, Thomas, Yale, and Doucette signed with Serletics production company Melisma which was quickly formed in Aug of 1995. And shortly after Serletic introduced the trio to his friends the two guitarists: Adam Gaynor (Serletic knew Adam from his time at Criterion Studios in South Florida with Collective Soul) and Kyle Cook (Serletic grew up two houses from Cook in Stone Mountain, Georgia). With Cook on lead guitar and Gaynor on rhythm guitar, the five formed Matchbox Twenty.
Forced to file a lawsuit to fight their rights and what they were owed in a lawsuit which lasted 4.5 years Stanley and Goff settled out of court in a confidential settlement in Dec of 1999.
Stanley continued to operate Tabitha's Secret as a business; controlling all the master recordings and the trademark of the band name. However, Goff signed over his interest in the Tabitha's Secret business to Stanley in 1999 and started his own company, separate from Stanley.
Meanwhile, Stanley continued to capitalize on Tabitha's Secret releasing numerous albums on his independent record label JTJ Records Inc. Dont Play with Matches in 1997 a full CD of the band's recordings from 1993 to 1995. Including 2 of the original recorded versions of the hit song 3am. And later released a live album and remastered the band's original EP.

## Lawsuit

In 1997, guitarists Jay Stanley and John Goff filed a lawsuit against Thomas, Yale, Doucette, and Serletic, along with attorney David Mantel. The lawsuit alleged that Serletic approached the band about a long term agreement and the production of a self-title/self-published EP, which included the track "3 A.M.", and then agreed to represent that band to Atlantic Records. However, when Stanley and Goff had reservations, Thomas unilaterally fired the band's manager and agent, cancelled their tour and announced the band was breaking up. The lawsuit claimed fiduciary breach of contract against the former bandmembers and tortious interference against Serletic and his attorney. This lawsuit lasted three years and was settled out of court in 2000.

## Recordings

The first recording released by Tabitha's Secret was a self-titled and self-published EP featuring the name "Tabitha's Secret?" and original artwork by Perry Souza.
The first post-breakup Tabitha's Secret album was entitled "Don't Play With Matches" (a thinly-veiled reference to Stanley's ex-bandmates), released in 1998.
The next recording, in 2000, was entitled Live, and features recordings from Tabitha's Secret's shows.
In 2001, Jay Stanley joined with Tony Miceli and George Spatta to re-mix, re-master and overdub the original recordings from the self-titled EP, much to Thomas's disapproval.
Jay Stanley released new Tabitha's Secret material, titled the "Vault(s) 1, 2 and 3".

## Band members
### Former members

* Rob Thomas – lead vocals (March 1990–1995)
* John Leslie Goff – guitar, backing vocals (March 1990–1995)
* John "Jay" Stanley – guitar, backing vocals (March 1990–1995)
* Brian Yale – bass guitar (March 1990–1995)
* Paul Doucette – drums, percussion (September 1990–1995)
* Chris Smith – drums, percussion (March 1990–September 1990)
* Colin Chrisman – bass guitar (March 1990)

### Additional personnel

* Joey Fowler - Promoter, party host (1993–1994)
* Mike Pilarski – instrument tech, roadie (March 1990–1995)
* Matt Serletic – songwriter, producer, representative (1995)
* Kevin O'Malley – personal manager (1995)
* Chris Tanner – booking agent (1995)

## Discography

* Don't Play with Matches (1997)
* Live (1999)
* Tabitha's Secret? (2001)
* The Vault Vol. 1 (2007)
* The Vault Vol. 2 (2007)
* The Vault Vol. 3: The Covers (2007)