Did Ed Sheeran Copy Marvin Gaye? Edward Christopher Sheeran MBE is a singer-songwriter from England. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and reared in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began composing music at the age of eleven. Sheeran independently released the extended play No. 5 Collaborations Project in early 2011. The same year, he signed with Asylum Records. Did Ed Sheeran Copy Marvin Gaye? Let’s find out!
Did Ed Sheeran Copy Marvin Gaye?
How Long Did Sheeran Testify in Court?
Ed Sheeran sang and played the chord progression to his hit song Thinking Out Loud on the witness stand in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, during a trial over whether he plagiarized Marvin Gaye’s classic Let’s Get On.
As the first witness in his own defence, the British singer-songwriter testified before a packed courtroom about how he wrote the song about eternal love in 2014, shortly after he began a new romantic relationship and after his grandfather died.
“I draw a lot of inspiration from things in my life and family,” Sheeran said, adding that the song was inspired by the love he observed between his grandparents.
The heirs of songwriter Ed Townsend, Gaye’s co-writer on the 1973 song, are suing the 32-year-old.
The heirs of Townsend claim the syncopated chord progression in Thinking Out Loud was lifted from Let’s Get It On.
Sheeran testified for nearly an hour on Thursday, describing how his friend and collaborator Amy Wadge began strumming the song’s melodies during a visit to his home in England and how the two had collaborated on the lyrics.
On the stand, he sang the phrase “I’m singing out now” which he claimed to have sung during his composition session with Wadge. According to him, the phrase sounded like “I’m thinking out loud”, which became the title.
“When I write vocal melodies, it’s like phonetics,” Sheeran explained.
He then retrieved a guitar from behind the witness stand, performed the song’s chord progression, and sang the song’s opening lyrics: “When your legs don’t work like they used to.”
Sheeran informed the court that he preferred to work swiftly, with the majority of his songs being composed in a single day or even minutes. He stated that he once composed eight or nine tracks in a single day.
Thinking Out Loud reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom and No. 2 in the United States, and claimed the 2016 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
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How Did the Lawyers for Townsend Try to Prove Their Case?
Lawyers for Townsend showed a video of Sheeran seamlessly transitioning between Thinking Out Loud and Let’s Get It On during a live performance, which they interpreted as a declaration that he had stolen the song.
Sheeran responded in court, “Most pop songs can work over most pop songs… If I had done what you accuse me of, I’d be an imbecile to do so in front of 20,000 people while standing on a stage.”
Wednesday, one of the plaintiffs, Townsend’s daughter Kathryn Griffin Townsend, fainted and had to be carried from the courtroom.
What Caused Griffin Townsend’s Collapse?
Read More – What Happened to Cristina Gibson on ‘Summer House’?
Summary
Ed Sheeran testified in court that his song Thinking Out Loud was inspired by the love he observed between his grandparents, and the heirs of songwriter Ed Townsend are suing him. Ed Townsend’s daughter Kathryn Griffin Townsend filed a lawsuit against Ed Sheeran for stealing his song Thinking Out Loud, which reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 2 in the US.