Axl Rose countersues ex-manager for $5 million

LOS ANGELES – Axl Rose has filed a countersuit against his former manager, claiming the man and his music management company tried to sabotage Guns N' Roses to try to force Rose into a reunion tour with the band's original members.

Rose sued Irving Azoff and Front Line Management, the company Azoff founded, for $5 million on Monday in Los Angeles.

Front Line Management sued Rose in March for nearly $1.9 million in unpaid fees, claiming it had an oral agreement with Rose to receive 15 percent of the Guns N' Roses' frontman's commissions.

Rose says in his lawsuit that Azoff lied about planning a Guns N' Roses tour with the band Van Halen and failed to promote the band's 2008 comeback album "Chinese Democracy."

The lawsuit claims Azoff wanted to sabotage Rose and have a 2009 and 2010 tour fail so Rose would have no option but to reunite and tour with former bandmates.