“More to Life” and “Stuck” singer Stacie Orrico has filed a lawsuit against former manager Britt Ham, accusing him of sexual assault.
“The music industry failed to protect me when I was a little girl,” Orrico, 39, told People in a Wednesday, January 7, statement. “It has taken me years to become strong enough — but I am ready to fight for every young and innocent person who has been, and continues to be, abused in the music industry and in the church.”
Orrico alleged that Ham repeatedly abused her for several years during her adolescent music career.
“Plaintiff Stacie Joy Orrico was an innocent and joyful child, full of dreams, one of which was to become a singer,” court documents obtained by Us Weekly read. “That dream — and her childhood, adolescence and entire life — were permanently threatened and profoundly altered by the trauma she endured as a result of sexual abuse and exploitation while she was a minor child and a professional musical artist under Defendants’ control, supervision, and authority.”
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Orrico further claimed that she informed her former record label, Universal Music Group, of the alleged abuse but executives didn’t step in to help. Us has reached out to Universal Music Group, Orrico and Ham for comment.
“After years of therapy and personal struggle, and an attempt to reconcile her religious upbringing and the hell she was put through at the hands of her abusers, Plaintiff now brings this action to seek accountability for the abuse, exploitation, and profound harm she suffered,” Orrico’s court documents read. “Although Plaintiff’s childhood cannot be restored and the trauma she endured cannot be erased Plaintiff seeks to hold Defendants’ responsible for the lasting physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual injuries they caused.”
Orrico also claimed that Ham first sexually assaulted her when she was 14 years old during a business trip in Los Angeles.
“[He] kissed her and instructed her to lie on his bed next to him. Ham continued to kiss her and touched her over her clothes and between her legs. Following these acts, Ham gave Plaintiff conflicting explanations,” the singer’s lawyers claimed. “He would instruct her that the acts were not a sin because he loved her. He would blame her then absolve her for his inability to resist engaging in sex acts with her.”
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Orrico rose to fame with the release of her 2000 debut album, Genuine. She released her self-titled sophomore album three years later and Beautiful Awakening in 2006.
“I think that my goal ever since I started making music over five years ago has just been to make music in a way where I’m writing honestly about the things that I’m dealing with as a teenager,” she previously said in a 2003 interview. “[I want to write] in a way that’s relatable to other teenagers who are going to pick up the record and go, ‘Wow, I’m dealing with that,’ and from a positive perspective … of, either this is what I’ve struggled with, this is what I’ve gone through, and this is what I’ve learned from it, or maybe it’s even just this is what I’m going through right now.”
The Grammy nominee walked away from her record deal in 2008, later founding her The Nile Project organization.
“The Nile Project is a modern day artist’s salon, a place where creatives gather and encourage one another in their work,” a website description reads. “We are a community who believes that our greatest creative offerings to the world come out of a deeply intuitive, feminine source.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).