Music Inferno: Teddy Riley's Studio Burns In A Blaze

By Jawn Murray, BlackVoices.com

The future of Teddy Riley's Future Records Studios isn't so good.

The famed Virginia Beach studios, where the New Jack Swing era was birthed, burned down on Tuesday June 24.

According to reports, it will probably be this week when officials will know what caused the blaze that gutted the Guy and Blackstreet member's studio located on Virginia Beach Blvd.

Battalion Chief David Hutcheson, a spokesman for the Virginia Beach Fire Department, said investigators will determine where and how the fire started, and whether a lightning strike, electrical problem or arson was responsible for the destruction of the defunct recording studio.

"When it's destroyed as much as that was, that can be difficult," Hutcheson said.

Riley's studio had been on the selling block at the time of the fire. The owner of the property, Dunkirk Properties LLC, owes more than $18,000 in back taxes, according to the city treasurer's office.

The company is linked to former Beach attorney Troy Titus, whose law license was revoked in 2005 after he bounced checks worth $3.3 million.

The fire happened in the wee hours of the morning and was reported shortly before 5 a.m. when a passerby near Princess Anne High School saw smoke and flames shooting through the roof.

It took local firefighters about 40 minutes to get the blaze under subjection.

In February, lawyers agreed to seek a buyer for the studio, which one described as functional even though the equipment was no longer state of the art. Late last month, an auction for the property was held, but no one met the opening bid of $500,000.

Riley, who was honored in 2007 at the 'Vh1 Hip Hop Honors,' made a plea to bidders to purchase the studio and maintain it because of its history. The 3,300-square-foot studio had lounges, leather furniture and modern fixtures and opened in 1991.

The once sought-after producer, who has penned hits for the likes of Michael Jackson, Mary J. Blige, SWV, Joe and Jay-Z, has been plagued with financial and legal problems.

He filed for bankruptcy in 2002 but still owed the Internal Revenue Service about $1 million in unpaid taxes.

His home in Church Point was sold in 2006 for $1.5 million. The proceeds were used to pay tax debts.

The auction was designed to help pay off a $700,000 loan against the studio that Riley later defaulted on.

Riley has had a career resurgence as of late, producing hits for Snoop Dogg and Keith Sweat.

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