Ed Sheeran Vows to Quit Music if Found Guilty of Plagiarizing Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On'
According to Birmingham Live, British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran vowed that he will quit music if he is found guilty of plagiarising his hit song Thinking Out Loud. The Shape of You singer is accused of copying his Grammy-winning song Thinking Out Loud from Marvin Gaye's 1973 soul classic Let's Get It On.
The spectacular copyright trial, which has been closely watched by both the entertainment and legal world, entered its second week at the federal court in Manhattan. The 32-year-old singer has vigorously denied any claims of infringing the masterpiece. The chart-topping singer is being sued by Ed Townsend, Marvin Gaye's co-songwriter's relatives, which includes his daughter Kathryn Griffin Townsend, sister Helen McDonald, and the estate of his late wife, Cherrigale.
The previous week, Sheeran attested that he and the co-writer Amy Wadge created Thinking Out Loud based on their own affairs in a brief songwriting session one evening in February 2014. "If I had done what you're accusing me of doing, I'd be quite an idiot to stand on a stage in front of 20,000 people and do that," Sheeran said last Tuesday, under questioning by Keisha D. Rice, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, as per New York Times reports.
On Thursday, Sheeran even played his guitar in the courtroom just so he could recreate and showcase how different both songs are. Attorneys for the complainants showed "a smoking gun", which is a fan video showing Mr. Sheeran moving seamlessly between Thinking Out Loud and Let's Get It On during a live show. On Monday, the musician was back on the stand and again took out his guitar to illustrate how the plaintiff's musicologist Alexander Stewart misrepresented his song.
As per Business Insider, Sheeran told the court on Monday that Thinking Out Loud is a unique composition as he denied the allegations. He said that he knows the chords that he's playing on the guitar in a heated exchange with a plaintiff's lawyer. He earlier told the court that pop songs are usually built on foundational blocks which were there and freely available for many years now, per Rolling Stone.
"I think what he is doing is criminal," Sheeran said of Mr. Stewart's testimony. He expressed his frustration as he had no idea why he was permitted to be an expert. He also described how he felt about being accused of copying in Thinking Out Loud. "To have someone come in and say, 'We don't believe you, you must have stolen it,'" the musician said, "I find that really insulting."
When asked about the toll the copyright trial is taking on him, Sheeran said, "If that happens, I'm done, I'm stopping," according to the Daily Mail. "I find it really insulting to devote my whole life to being a performer and a songwriter and have someone diminish it," he continued. Townsend's relatives argue that Thinking Out Loud bears "striking similarities" to Let's Get It On, including a matching chord progression. Townsend's relatives are seeking an unspecified payout and hoping to stop Ed Sheeran from performing Thinking Out Loud at live shows.
