The 32-year-old wanted to prove that his “Thinking Out Loud” wasn’t copied from Marvin Gaye.
Ed Sheeran auditioned on guitar yesterday (April 27) as part of his ongoing court hearing. As a reminder, composer Ed Townsend’s heirs accuse the 32-year-old of using harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements from Marvin Gayes “Let’s Get It On”in which Townsend was also involved, for his song “Thinking Out Loud” to have ripped off. As early as the second day of the hearing (April 25), Sheeran pointed out that pop songs often share chord progressions and other elements. These are not protected by copyright.
How “ABC” reported, the Grammy Award-winner also incorporated a small vocal streak into his performance in court. He sang the original lyrics to his song, “I’m singing out now.” Sheeran also testified that he writes most of his songs in a day. The Halifax native testified that he didn’t even think about “Let’s Get It On” during the making of “Thinking Out Loud.” Like many of his other tracks, this one was co-written with Amy Wadge. “We sat next to each other with our guitars…We wrote quite a lot together,” Sheeran is quoted as saying by ABC.
The trial began on Monday (April 24) in New York. On the second day of the trial, the plaintiffs’ lawyers presented a video of Ed Sheeran playing a mash-up of the two songs concerned on stage as evidence. Ed Townsend’s daughter, Griffen, reportedly fainted while being questioned by a music expert earlier that day. The court has now adjourned the hearing, and Sheeran is scheduled to testify again on Monday.