Singer gets sued for allegedly copying Marvin Gaye's 'Let's get it on'
Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran is being sued for alleged copyright infringement on Marvin Gayes Lets get it on with his fan favourite award winning song Thinking out loud.
The heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the lyrics to Gaye’s classic in 1973 and created its musical composition, are suing Sheeran for copyright infringement, claiming the Grammy Award-winning artist essentially duplicated the “heart” of Let’s Get It On, Reuters reports.
“The Defendants copied the ‘heart’ of ‘Let’s’ and repeated it continuously throughout ‘Thinking,'” the lawsuit said, according to the news agency. “The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of ‘Thinking’ are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of ‘Let’s.'”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, asks for damages to be assessed at a jury trial, according to Reuters.
Sheeran's successful 'Thinking out loud' was the first song to generate 500 million streams on Spotify, and has been streamed more than 1 billion times on YouTube, winning Song of The Year at the 58th Grammy Awards held February 15, 2016.
Sheeran’s representatives have yet to respond to the allegations.
The British musician is also being sued over his song, 'Photograph.' Songwriters Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard, who are seeking $20 million, say 'Photograph' is nearly identical to their 2009 song 'Amazing'.
Last March, Marvin Gaye’s family was awarded nearly $7.4 million dollars after a jury ruled that Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke copied Gaye on their 2013 hit 'Blurred Lines'.
Listen to both songs and take the poll to tell us your thoughts on if they are right to sue.