Identity theft rocks the world of Rock & Roll

Even the world of rock and roll is not immune to identity theft.  And, no, I'm not talking about Elvis impersonators. 

Eric Valentine, a music producer who has worked with Maroon 5 and Queens of the Stone Age, has filed a lawsuit against one of his associates for allegedly impersonating him in an attempt to land recording jobs.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on December 8, alleges that one Louis Adkinson has been using Valentine's name to sign deals with artists.  One such artist was Mark Ballas of Dancing with the Stars.

Adkinson's brother manages Valentine's L.A. studio.  The lawsuit claims that Adkinson broke into Valentine's office and stole a commemorative plaque regarding his work on the soundtrack of the movie Shrek.  He even had photos on his phone of himself holding up the commemorative plaque in Valetine's office, which he showed to potential victims such as Ballas.

Dionne Warwick's son, Damon Elliot, is alleged to have conspired with Adkinson "to misappropriate and trade off the good will of Valentine's name and use that name to steal from musicians and others who wanted to work with Valentine".

According to Ballas, Adkinson had him fooled for the first week or so, but the scheme unraveled when it became clear that Adkinson did not have any musical knowledge.  Said Ballas, "He didn't know a C chord.  He didn't know anything."