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.
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.
In 1995, the band interviewed several managers and selected Kevin O'Malley, then manager of the successful regional band Spider Monkey, to represent them. O'Malley quickly connected them with publicist and Nashville-based agent Chris Tanner, as well as several record label representatives, including Kim Stephens, a promotions and A&R rep for Atlantic Records. 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, along with Jay Stanley and John Goff, financed new recording sessions at Triclops Studios in Atlanta. Those sessions produced recordings of new material - including "Tired" and "Swing" - as well as updated versions of "Forever December" and "3 A.M." These four songs were intended to be the foundation of the band's first major label release and generated contract offers from both Atlantic and Hollywood Records.
That same year, songwriter and producer Matt Serletic, who also represented Atlantic Records, approached lead singer Rob Thomas privately - without the knowledge of Stanley, Goff, or the other members - about signing a long-term deal with his production company, Melisma. This arrangement had never been discussed with the band, who had always expected to sign directly with a label. It is widely believed that Serletic and his attorney were working to form the production company specifically to gain control of the band and a significant share of any record deal income. Serletic also had two friends in mind as replacement guitarists - his neighbor Kyle Cook and Adam Gaynor, an employee of Criteria Studios in Miami whom he had met during the recording of Collective Soul's second album.
By mid-June 1995, Thomas told Stanley and Goff that the record offers from Atlantic and Hollywood were for him alone - despite the fact that the band's attorney had already received deal offers via fax for Tabitha's Secret and all of its members. Under continued pressure from Serletic, Thomas considered moving forward with Melisma, indicating he might keep Brian Yale on bass and Paul Doucette on drums, while Stanley and Goff were effectively pushed out. Thomas' decision was based on his idea that Doucette was his "good luck charm."
Shortly after, Thomas, Yale, and Doucette signed with Melisma, which was formally established in August 1995. Serletic then introduced the trio to Cook and Gaynor, and the five of them went on to form Matchbox Twenty.
Stanley and Goff were forced to file a lawsuit to protect their rights. After four and a half years of litigation, they reached a confidential settlement in December 1999. Goff subsequently signed over his interest in the Tabitha's Secret business to Stanley and moved on independently. Stanley continued to operate Tabitha's Secret, retaining control of the master recordings and the band's trademark. He released several albums on his independent label, JTJ Records Inc., including a 1997 full-length collection of recordings from 1993 to 1995 - featuring two original versions of "3 A.M." - as well as a live album and a remastered version of the band's original EP.
In 1997, former Tabitha's Secret guitarists Jay Stanley and John Goff filed suit against Rob Thomas, Brian Yale, Paul Doucette, producer Matt Serletic, and attorney David Mantel.
The lawsuit alleged that when Stanley and Goff expressed reservations about signing a long-term production deal with Serletic's company Melisma, Thomas unilaterally fired the band's manager and booking agent, canceled the remainder of their tour, and announced the band was dissolving - claiming the Atlantic Records deal was his alone. Matchbox Twenty's agreement with Melisma was allegedly backdated to September 20, 1995.
Stanley and Goff brought claims of fiduciary breach of contract against their former bandmates and tortious interference against Serletic and his attorney.
Note: Sources differ on the circumstances of the split. Some accounts characterize Stanley and Goff as having rejected the Melisma deal outright, while others allege they were excluded from negotiations without their knowledge.
The case was settled out of court, with Stanley and Goff receiving the rights to the disputed recordings and permission to continue using the Tabitha's Secret band name. Goff subsequently signed over his remaining interest in the Tabitha's Secret business to Stanley. This lawsuit lasted three years and was settled out of court in 2000.
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".