The court signed off the petition yesterday, but the 58 year old singer was not present. His attorney, Bret D. Lewis, explained that the singer was performing in Europe alongside his brothers Jackie, Tito and Marlon Jackson. Jermaine had filed the petition for the single letter change in his surname at the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Lewis argued, “if Prince and P. Diddy can do it, why can’t and shouldn’t Jermaine?” Halima Rashid, Jermaine’s wife, said that she supported her husband’s decision saying that “the name is brighter.”
Jermaine made it clear that the name change was for artistic reasons only and did not indicate a rift in the family whatsoever. He added that it was not a big deal to change one letter in his surname which did not in any way alter it phonetically. Jermaine’s friend Steve Dennis laughed it off saying that it is still the same in every sense and that he did not think that Jermaine would not be changing his name “as often as P. Diddy.”
