Ed Sheeran testifies in Marvin Gaye copyright suit
The 'Thinking Out Loud' hitmaker sang and played his guitar on the witness stand.
Ed Sheeran appeared in court this week to testify in a copyright lawsuit filed over a Marvin Gaye song.
He is being sued by Kathryn Griffin Townsend - the daughter of the late R&B and soul legend's writing partner, Ed Townsend.
She had accused the 32-year-old of plagiarising the chord progression of Marvin's 1973 classic, 'Let's Get It On'.
During day four of his appearance in court on Thursday, Ed performed live for the jury. He sang parts of his 2014 song, 'Thinking Out Loud', and also played the open chords on his guitar.
The 'Boat' singer told the jury that he got the idea for the song while getting ready for dinner with singer-songwriter Amy Wedge. He heard her mumbling the chords and decided they should write a song to the chords.
“I remember thinking we have to do something with that. Amy definitely started strumming the chords…We sat guitar to guitar. We wrote together quite a lot," ABC quoted him as saying in court.
Ed added that the song's lyrics were inspired by challenges in his personal life, including the death of his grandfather and his grandmother's cancer diagnosis.
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It's not the first time the Townsend family has tried to sue him over the song. The first attempt was made in 2016.
READ MORE about it here: Ed Sheeran accused of ripping off Marvin Gaye's song.
He is also not the first musician to be sued over a Marvin Gaye. The music icon's family successfully sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over their hit 2013 single, 'Blurred Lines'.
They were accused of copying elements from Marvin's 1977 song, 'Got To Give It Up'. The Marvin Gaye's Estate was awarded $5-million (R92-million).
The Townsend family is suing Ed for $100-million (R1.8-billion).
Listen to Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' below:
And here's Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On':
Main image credit: YouTube/Ed Sheeran (Thinking Out Loud official music video).