"Shape of You" and "Perfect" singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has threatened to leave the profession. The popular musician, whose songs have appeared in Monarch and Yesterday,
, has been accused of copying Marvin Gaye's 1973 song "Let's Get It On" with his 2014 song "Thinking Out Loud." If he loses the lawsuit, the 32-year-old musician would quit music, Consequence Sound said.
Ed Sheeran's legal team presented closing arguments to a jury, bringing a 2017 lawsuit to an end. A jury will decide if Sheeran's song infringes copyright.
The claimants, including the family of "Let's Get It On" co-writer Ed Townsend, accuse Ed Sheeran of copying the songs' beginnings.
Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wade deny that the song was influenced by Gaye.
Instead, they claimed the song resembled Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, prompting Sheeran to sing Van Morrison songs in court.
Musicologist Alexander Stewart, a plaintiffs' expert witness, disputes Ed Sheeran's claims. Stewart, who teaches jazz and ethnomusicology at Vermont, testified that the songs are comparable.
Ed Sheeran has called the UVM musicologist's evidence against him "criminal" and questioned the professor's expertise. Pop music is full of chord progressions like these.
Stewart's claims have been rejected by juries. Stewart testified in only one action, against Led Zepplin, which the jury ruled in favor of the band.
Marvin Gaye has been copied by more than Ed Sheeran. Marvin Gaye's family sued Robin Thicke on similarities between Gaye's 1977 song "Got to Give It Up" and Thicke's "Blurred Lines."
If Ed Sheeran loses the lawsuit and quits the industry, it would end a nearly two-decade career that began in 2004 when he independently released Spinning Man aged 13.
He has four Grammys, five Billboard Music Awards, and one BBC Music Award. The song at the center of the complaint, "Thinking of You," was nominated for a Grammy
CHECK FOR MORE STORIES