Lounge Singer Sues Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom for ‘Destroying’ his Career
Posted on: December 8, 2025, 05:28h.
Last updated on: December 8, 2025, 05:28h.
- Evans alleges decades of retaliation and defamation by venue management.
- Claims assault, lawsuit, and misrepresentations derailed his musical career.
- Venue’s alleged actions linked to long-term emotional and professional harm.
A litigious lounge singer is suing New Hampshire’s Hampton Beach Casino and its co-owner, Fred Schaake Jr, for defamation, claiming that the venue engaged in a decades-long campaign to “destroy [his] professional reputation, emotional well-being, and career trajectory.”
Brian Evans describes himself on his website as a “modern icon” and “one of this generation’s most captivating crooners,” who has “captured the hearts of millions with his timeless voice.”
The 55-year-old singer’s “At Fenway” – a paean to the Boston Red Sox’s Fenway Park with a video featuring William Shatner – peaked at #116 on the US singles chart in the Billboard issue dated May 4, 2013.
Stun Gun Attack
But Evans’ career may have reached even greater heights had it not been for the alleged behavior of the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom, a key New England live music venue, according to the lawsuit.
Evans claims his early relationship with the defendants – he played the ballroom as a teenager – was “marked by exploitation, negligent security, and retaliatory defamation that has persisted into the present.”
Specifically, he claims management blighted his career by badmouthing him to booking agents after Evans refused to sign a contract and then sued the venue after he suffered a “life-threatening” assault on stage.
While opening for Ben E. King in 1991, the young crooner was violently assaulted by an individual with an electrical stun device. He suffered a concussion and was hospitalized for two days.
“When Plaintiff, still a teenager, refused to sign the personal management contract that Defendants tried to push onto him – an attempt by Defendants to gain personal commercial control over his career and income – Defendants became openly resentful. Their hostility only intensified after Plaintiff filed a legitimate negligent-security lawsuit following the attack,” alleges the lawsuit.
From that point onward, management began telling key entertainment industry figures that Evans had sued the venue, while “deliberately omitting” the relevant facts, claims the plaintiff.
In 2015, Evans was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder from years of “accumulated emotional trauma” brought on by the assault and alleged subsequent retaliation, according to court filings.
Evans Has History
According to Seacoast Online, Evans, who once tried to run for the US Senate in Hawaii, has a history of lawsuits, which includes suing the Hampton Board of Selectmen for $10 million after it declined to erect a plaque to his late mother. That case was dismissed.
Evans’ latest lawsuit is filed in a federal court in Florida, the state in which he now resides. A federal case must be filed where either the defendants live, or where the events occurred, neither of which applies to Florida.
In the early 1990s, while living in California, Evans was arrested for impersonating “American Top 40” radio host Casey Kasem and charging plane tickets in Kasem’s name. He subsequently spent time in prison for violating his parole when he left the state to sing the national anthem at a Baltimore Orioles game.
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