Ed Sheeran Sued For Allegedly Copying Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”

Carl Williott | August 10, 2016 10:03 am

Here we go again. The family of a co-writer of Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get It On” is suing Ed Sheeran over his 2014 Grammy-winning smash “Thinking Out Loud.” The claim from the estate of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the lyrics and composition for Gaye’s 1973 hit, says Sheeran copied the “heart” of the song. They’re demanding a jury trial and compensation.

“The Defendants copied the ‘heart’ of ‘Let’s’ and repeated it continuously throughout ‘Thinking,'” the lawsuit claims, according to Reuters. “The melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic compositions of ‘Thinking’ are substantially and/or strikingly similar to the drum composition of ‘Let’s.'”

This is the second time this year the British star’s been hit with a lawsuit alleging he copied a song. Writers of Matt Cardle‘s “Amazing” are suing Sheeran for $20 million over “Photograph” — and in an interesting twist, they’ve hired the lawyer who represented Marvin Gaye’s family in the “Blurred Lines” case.

After “Blurred Lines” lost to the tune of $7.4 million, you’d think these two lawsuits and their Marvin Gaye connection would strike the fear of god into Sheeran. But the AP reports he was notified of the “Let’s Get It On” copyright infringement claim last year and has continued to perform “Thinking Out Loud” since.

If this one goes Townsend’s way, we may have to start speaking of The Curse of Marvin Gaye. Hear “Let’s Get It On” and the markedly less sexy “Thinking Out Loud” below.