Ed Sheeran has reportedly been hit with a $100m (£76.5m) lawsuit for allegedly using many of the musical components in Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 hit, “Thinking Out Loud”.
A lawsuit filed in the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York claims the “Shape of You” singer copied Gaye’s “melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bassline, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping” for the single that appeared on his album X.
“Thinking Out Loud” reached No 1 in the UK chart and No 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while the album has sold over 15m copies.
The lawsuit was filed by Structured Asset Sales, which owns part of the copyright for the song Gaye released in 1973.
Another lawsuit was filed in 2016 against Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud“ by the daughter of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote “Let’s Get It On” with Gaye.
Sheeran claimed she had no right to file the suit according to California state law, however, since she was the biological daughter to Mr Townsend but adopted by another family at birth.
For more details: independent.co.uk
