Video from Ed Sheeran concert is ‘smoking gun’ in Marvin Gaye copyright case: attorneys
It was music to their ears!
Video of a live performance by Ed Sheeran is the “smoking gun” in a lawsuit accusing the four-time Grammy award-winning musician of ripping off Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On,” a Manhattan court heard Tuesday.
Attorneys for the heirs of late Ed Townsend – who co-wrote the 1973 soul classic with Gaye – claimed that Sheeran made a “confession” when he combined the hit song with his own, “Thinking Out Loud,” during a 2014 concert in Zurich.
“In this case, we have a smoking gun: Mr. Ed Sheeran himself in concert merged ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and ‘Let’s Get it On,’” lawyer Ben Crump said in his opening statement in Manhattan federal court.
The mashup proves Sheeran knew of the similarities between the two songs, Crump argued.
Riffing on a famous quote attributed to Maya Angelou — “When people show you who they are, believe them,” — Crump told the jury: “When someone provides you [with] a voluntary confession, believe them.”
“Make no mistake about it: the evidence will show that Mr. Ed Sheeran… made a confession,” he said.
The attorney said that Gaye’s beloved tune “has been called ‘the perfect song for that moment,’” adding, “Some of you may know what I mean when I talk about that moment.”
Sheeran “recognized the magic” of Gaye’s classic song and “decided to capture a bit of that magic for his own benefit.”
The British singer-songwriter, 32, who wore a dark suit, white shirt and light blue tie, sat between his attorneys in the lower Manhattan courthouse during opening arguments, and was spotted enjoying a meatball sub in the cafeteria during the lunch break.
His lawyer, Ilene Farkas, argued that Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” — which won a Grammy for song of the year in 2016 — was born from an “emotional conversation” about loved ones dying and questioned why Sheeran would perform a version of Gaye’s song if he had copied it.
“Do you really think if Mr. Sheeran publicly copied ‘Let’s Get it On,’ would he go on stage and play it?” she asked the jury.
Farkas argued that the chord progression in question had been used before Townsend helped pen “Let’s Get it On” in 1973.
“[From] Buddy Holly to The Beach Boys to The Beegees to Elton John… have used this chord progression before Ed Townsend,” Farkas said, arguing that the chord progression was taught in basic how-to-play piano books, including one published in 1967– six years before Gaye’s R&B hit.
She also took a jab at Townsend’s daughter, Kathryn Townsend Griffin, accusing her of “trying to monopolize” off Sheeran’s hit song.
The jury must decide whether the “Shape of You” singer should be held liable for copyright infringement.
Griffin, who took the stand later Tuesday, told the court she wasn’t familiar with Sheeran until she heard “Thinking Out Loud” after friends and family phoned her, saying that the song sounded like the one co-written by her father.
“Mr. Sheeran, I didn’t want to come to this, but I have to protect my father’s legacy,” she said during cross-examination.
