The estate attorney for Ohio Players frontman Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner said a March tribute planned was canceled because Bonner did not wish to have any public memorials.

“He was public performer, but when you talked to him, he was a very private person,” said Merle Wilberding, who has been Bonner’s attorney for 35 years.

Bonner’s Close Friend Donald “Duck” Blanton of CITYBOY Entertainment in Trotwood was to host the March 14 event that was scheduled to take place at Gilly’s in downtown Dayton.

The March 14 date was chosen because that was Bonner’s birthday. Bonner, who died Jan. 26 of cancer, would have turned 70-years-old this year. The Hamilton native’s body was cremated last week, Wilberding said.

Blanton said he canceled the event after Wilberding raised some objections during a telephone conversation that the two men had recently.

“We wanted to do it in a way that we thought would be more consistent with Sugar’s wishes,” Wilberding said, referring to Bonner’s Dayton-area family members. He added that Bonner did not wish to have any public memorials. “We had a discussion on it and the family did not wish (to have) that particular event. He had a very private life and death and it’s just not the right time and place.”

“At this time, I want to give the family time to grieve,” Blanton said of one of the reasons why he decided to cancel the March event. “They don’t want me to use his name.”

When asked about using Bonner’s name, Wilberding said, “we are concerned about his image and likeness.”

In the meantime, Bonner’s Cincinnati family are continuing with their public memorial, according to Bonner’s granddaughter Shaile Foster of Cincinnati. That memorial will be 4 p.m. Saturday at the House of Joy Christian Ministries, 5912 Hamilton Ave. in Cincinnati. The church seats approximately 500, Foster said.

Guests planning to be in attendance include Funk Legend and Cincinnati native Bootsy Collins, his wife Patty and musician Wanda Rash, according to Foster.

The Ohio Players, a Dayton-based Funk band, rose to international fame in the 1970s, with its hits that included, “Fire,” “Skin Tight,” and “Love Rollercoaster.”

Bonner and another Hamilton native, Greg Webster, joined former Ohio Untouchables band members Marshall “Rock” Jones, Ralph “Pee Wee” Middlebrooks, and Clarence “Satch” Satchell to form the Ohio Players in 1968, according to Jones, 72, of Jamestown. The group did not play publically under the name Ohio Players until after Bonner and Webster joined, he said.