Ed Sheeran won his copyright trial over similarities between his 2014 hit single Thinking Out Loud and the Marvin Gaye 1973 classic Let’s Get It On.
ED said that if he lost this case he would have quit the music industry. We are happy to hear he won the case and look forward to more new music from Sheeran in the years to come.
Sheeran was accused of ripping off parts of the track Gaye created with fellow songwriter Ed Townsend in a lawsuit originally filed by heirs of Townsend in 2017.
A Manhattan jury found ED did not engage in willful copyright infringement following a trial that saw him playing his guitar and singing in court.
The jury reached its decision after roughly 3 hours of deliberations.
Sheeran hugged his attorneys when the verdict was read.
On Wednesday ED played Van Morrison in the court room to further contest accusations that the song ripped off Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get It On.” Sheeran once again pulled out his guitar and ran through mashups between “Thinking Out Loud” and several other songs by Van Morrison, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Bill Withers and Blackstreet to contest musicologist Alexander Stewart’s claims about his melodies and intentions. He did this to show how easily one song can bleed into another based on common and incidental resemblances in chord progressions.
ED sadly missed his grandmother’s funeral in Ireland because he had to defend his integrity in his court case in New York, his father told a packed church. Ed watched online to bid goodbye to 98-year-old Anne “Nancy” Sheeran who inspired one of his most personal songs, Nancy Mulligan. Ed’s father John gave the eulogy for his mother, saying: “I am very sad that our son Edward is unable to be here today. He’s so upset that he cannot be present – he has to be thousands of miles away in a court in America defending his integrity. I know he is comforted by the fact that he was able to spend some precious time alone with his grandma just a month ago.”
Sheeran spoke to the media after winning the case and joked he happy he is not retiring from his day job and expressed his frustration on years spent defending his music and integrity.
If you’re a fan of ED check out his four-part Disney+ Docuseries “Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All” now streaming and gives us a look at Ed’s personal life like never before.
Sheeran’s album “Subtract” drops on Friday May 5th and will be live in concert in Toronto to support the project at HistoryToronto on Friday June 16th.
Featured Image: Instagram/TeddysPhotos
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