English singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran was sued on Thursday for at least $100 million for allegedly copying large parts of Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On” for his smash hit “Thinking Out Loud.”
The lawsuit was filed by a company owned by David Pullman, an investment banker who in 1997 arranged the pioneering $55 million sale of “Bowie Bonds,” which made David Bowie the first musician to sell bonds backed by royalties from his catalog.
According to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, “Thinking Out Loud,” which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2015, copies the “melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bass line, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping” of “Let’s Get It On,” which hit No. 1 in September 1973.
Other defendants include Sony/ATV Music Publishing and the Atlantic record label.
– Excerpt from an article written for Reuters. Find the full article here.
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