However, multiple published reports say that his attorney, Skip Miller, has fired off a cease-and-desist letter to Aerosmith manager Howard Kaufman asking that the Front Line Management co-founder “immediately cease and desist from engaging in acts and conduct to the harm and detriment of your own client, Aerosmith, and our client who is one of its members.”
The purported letter, which was alluded to but not confirmed by sources close to both parties, comes on the heels of a flurry of stories suggesting that Aerosmith is, or is about to begin, interviewing singers to temporarily step in for Tyler while he continues recuperating from a broken shoulder and alleged subsequent painkiller addiction.
The latest report, first posted by gossip blogger Perez Hilton, has Billy Idol on the ever-growing list of rumored aspiring frontmen. Other names making the rounds include Chris Cornell and Paul Rodgers. None are confirmed as having had any meaningful contact with either Aerosmith or its representatives.
A source close to Tyler told Pollstar that the singer and his representatives have no beef with Aerosmith over the rumors, pointing to a Dec. 22 statement from Tyler that continues to state his position.
“With the help of my family and team of medical professionals, I’m taking responsibility for management of pain and am eager to be back on the stage and in the recording studio with my band mates Joe Perry, Joey Kramer, Tom Hamilton and Brad Whitford,” Tyler said in the statement.
“I wish to set the record straight and say that I have read reports of a rumored two-year hiatus and want to be clear that this is completely false. I will enthusiastically be writing, recording and performing with Aerosmith as soon as things are handled.”
Miller, an entertainment attorney who lists Tyler as a client on his Web site along with several other famous names (but not Aerosmith), referred a call from Pollstar to another firm, 10th Street Management, which reportedly manages Tyler but declined to comment.
Aerosmith is managed by Kaufman at HK Management in Los Angeles. A call to Kaufman was not immediately returned.