Ed Sheeran: My Inspiration Was Van Morrison, Not Marvin Gaye
Armed with his acoustic guitar, Ed Sheeran returned to the stand in his own defense on Monday, where he played a series of impromptu mash-up songs to prove that the inspiration for his hit “Thinking Out Loud” was Van Morrison, not Marvin Gaye.
The concert inside a packed Manhattan federal courtroom came on Sheeran’s third day on the stand at his copyright infringement trial, where he is accused of duplicating the sheet music for Marvin Gaye’s hit “Let Get It On.” The lawsuit, filed by the heirs of the song co-writer Ed Townsend, seeks to prove that Sheeran used several elements from the 1973 classic in his 2014 song.
But Sheeran attempted to shoot down those allegations on Monday—by admitting that the hit he wrote with singer-songwriter Amy Wadge was in fact inspired by another legend.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here