Connect with us


Entertainment

Ed Sheeran ordered to stand trial in the US over claims he copied Marvin Gaye’s hit Let’s Get it On

Published

on

British singer and songwriter, Ed Sheeran will face trial in the US over claims he copied his 2014  hit ‘Thinking Out Loud’ from Marvin Gaye’s 1973 classic ‘Let’s Get It On’.

 

Advertisement

U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in Manhattan denied Sheeran’s bid to dismiss the copyright infringement suit, saying a jury should decide on whether the two songs are substantially similar.

 

Advertisement

 

 

Advertisement

The move comes after Sheeran, 31, and his co-songwriters were awarded more than £900,000 in legal costs in June after winning their UK High Court copyright trial over the hit Shape of Year in March.

 

Advertisement
READ ALSO:   Why I'm Not Married At 54 – Nollywood Actress, Bimbo Akintola

After that ruling six months ago, Sheeran lashed out at the ‘baseless claims’ being brought against singer-songwriters.

 

Advertisement

 

 

Advertisement

On Thursday, Judge Stanton said that Sheeran must now face trial in the US amid claims Thinking Out Loud is copied from Gaye’s Let’s Get It On.

 

Advertisement

The copyright infringement suit was originally lodged in 2018 – not by Gaye’s family, but by Structured Asset Sales LLC, which owns a portion of ‘Let’s Get It On’ co-writer Ed Townsend’s estate.

 Singer, Ed Sheeran ordered to stand trial in the US over claims he copied Marvin Gaye

Structured Asset Sales (SAS) is seeking $100million in damages while alleging Sheeran and his co-writer Amy Wadge ‘copied and exploited, without authorization or credit’ the Gaye song, ‘including but not limited to the melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping’.

Advertisement
READ ALSO:   Suspended RCCG Pastor Speaks On 'Homos3xuality Allegations'... What Really Happened

 

 

Advertisement

 

Gaye co-wrote Let’s Get It On with Edward Townsend, an American singer and songwriter who died in 2003.

Advertisement

 

They released the song in June 1973 and it hit No.1 in September that year. More than 10 years later, Gaye was shot and killed by his father, Marvin Gay Senior – whose surname is spelt differently – at their house in Hancock Park, Los Angeles, after an argument on 1 April, 1984, on the eve of his 45th birthday.

Advertisement

 

On Thursday September 29, Judge Stanton said a jury must decide whether the two songs are substantially similar because music experts on both sides of the dispute disagree whether Sheeran’s song mimics ‘Let’s Get It On.’

Advertisement
READ ALSO:   Primate Ayodele Warns Raila Odinga Ahead Of Kenya Presidential Election

 

 

Advertisement

 

‘Although the two musical compositions are not identical, a jury could find that the overlap between the songs’ combination of chord progression and harmonic rhythm is very close,’ Stanton said.

Advertisement

 

An attorney for Structured Asset Sales, Hillel Parness, told Reuters the company is ‘pleased’ with the ruling.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Also Read...