TORONTO — Sum 41 lead singer Deryck Whibley alleges in his new memoir that he was pressured into a secret sexual relationship with his former manager, Treble Charger frontman Greig Nori.
In his career-spanning book “Walking Disaster: My Life Through Heaven and Hell,” Whibley describes a manipulation of power that began shortly after Sum 41 formed and continued for years without the knowledge of his bandmates.
Nori did not respond to an email and social media message seeking comment. In a report by the Globe and Mail he said they were "false allegations." None of the accusations have been tested in court.
Publisher Simon & Schuster, which released the book on Tuesday, did not make Whibley available for comment.
Sum 41 and Treble Charger were Canadian rock bands that received major radio and TV airplay during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
According to the book, Whibley met Nori after he snuck backstage at a Treble Charger show during the height of the band's fame.
The book states Nori befriended Whibley, becoming his mentor and ultimately Sum 41’s manager.
Whibley alleges that when he was 18 their platonic friendship turned sexual when Nori, in his mid-30s at the time, kissed him in a bathroom stall at a warehouse party while they were high on ecstasy.
It began a period of drug-fuelled experimentation, as Whibley describes it, that he says “felt wrong” when he was sober. But as time went on, Whibley alleges Nori “kept pushing for things to happen when we were together.”
He alleges a power imbalance that intensified as Sum 41 saw commercial success with Nori as manager. Whibley said when he attempted to end their sexual ties, Nori became verbally abusive.
“I felt like I had signed my life away to someone,” Whibley wrote.
“I felt trapped in something that was easier to just go along with than to escape from.”
It was further complicated, he said, by his preconceived notions of abuse and not wanting to consider himself a victim.
“Greig never physically held me down and forced me to do anything. I agreed to it and went along with it,” he writes.
Whibley writes it took about four years for him to end the sexual relationship, saying he brought it to a halt around the time Sum 41's “All Killer No Filler” tour wrapped up in 2002. He said the band fired Nori as manager in 2005.
He credits several women in his life for helping him recognize the depth of the alleged manipulation, including his ex-wife Avril Lavigne.
“I told her about the manipulation, his desire for control, how he took credit for my songs, the pressure to have a sexual relationship, how it all started and where it led," he wrote.
"It was so hard to talk about any of it, but I needed to finally tell her."
Conversations around the #MeToo movement, which was sparked by allegations levelled against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, also opened him up to reconsidering his own experiences.
“I started to hear stories that sounded very familiar," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
David Friend, The Canadian Press
