Ed Sheeran 'sued for $100m for copying Marvin Gaye song'

Lawsuit claims 'Thinking Out Loud' contains musical components of Marvin Gaye song

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran faces a $100m lawsuit for allegedly copying components of Marvin Gaye's classic "Let's Get It On" in his 2014 single, "Thinking Out Loud." (PA Wire/PA Images)

Ed Sheeran has reportedly been hit with a $100m (£76.5m) lawsuit for allegedly using many of the musical components in Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 hit, “Thinking Out Loud”.

A lawsuit filed in the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York claims the "Shape of You" singer copied Gaye’s “melody, rhythms, harmonies, drums, bassline, backing chorus, tempo, syncopation and looping” for the single that appeared on his album X, according to gossip website TMZ.

“Thinking Out Loud” reached No 1 in the UK chart and No 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while the album has sold over 15m copies.

The lawsuit was filed by Structured Asset Sales, which owns part of the copyright for the song Gaye released in 1973, the website claims.

Another lawsuit was filed in 2016 against Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud“ by the daughter of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote “Let’s Get It On” with Gaye.

Sheeran claimed she had no right to file the suit according to California state law, however, since she was the biological daughter to Mr Townsend but adopted by another family at birth.

He was also sued earlier this year by songwriters Sean Carey and Beau Golden, who claimed he copied one of their melodies for the 2017 single he wrote for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, “The Rest of Our Life.”

Sheeran has since filed paperwork denying those allegations and describing the song he wrote as “an originally and independently created musical composition.”

In 2014, Sheeran was sued by two songwriters over copyright infringement for allegedly using identical notes in his single “Photograph” from a song they wrote in 2009 entitled “Amazing.”

The musicians reached an out of court agreement, of which any specific payments remain unknown.

Sheeran has described previous allegations that he copied Mr Gaye’s hit as “baseless,” claiming the cord progressions in both songs are “extremely commonplace.” The singer has not yet responded to the latest lawsuit against him.

The Independent has contacted Ed Sheeran's representatives for comment.