WebProNews

Tag: Got to Give it Up

  • Paula Patton Left Robin Thicke Following Drug and Alcohol Issues, Plagiarism

    Paula Patton left Robin Thicke right around February of last year. Now Thicke has admitted that she left him because he was in the throes of drug addiction and alcoholism. The singer admitted recently to the Hollywood Reporter that he didn’t do one interview last year while not high, and that he also didn’t help write his 2013 hit ‘Blurred Lines.’

    The children of the late Marvin Gaye filed a lawsuit against the ‘Feel Good’ singer, Pharrell Williams, and Atlanta-based rapper T.I., claiming that they plagiarized at least parts of Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit ‘Got to Give It Up.’ When the lawsuit was first filed, Robin Thicke insisted there had been no wrongdoing, but now has changed his stance.

    “I was high on Vicodin and alcohol when I showed up at the studio. So my recollection is when we made the song, I thought I wanted–I–I wanted to be more involved than I actually was by the time, nine months later, it became a huge hit and I wanted credit,” he said in a deposition in April.

    “So I started kind of convincing myself that I was a little more part of it than I was and I–because I didn’t want him–I wanted some credit for this big hit. But the reality is, is that Pharrell had the beat and he wrote almost every single part of the song,” he added.

    In this same deposition, Robin Thicke admits why Paula Patton left him.

    “I told my wife the truth. That’s why she left me,” he said .”When your wife leaves you, it gives you good reason to sober up.”

    Robin Thicke released his follow up album, called ‘Paula,’ dedicated to Paula Patton, in an effort to win his wife back. It doesn’t seem as though he’s had success thus far.

    Do you think Paula Patton will eventually take Robin Thicke back if he remains clean and sober or has he done too much damage to salvage their marriage?

  • Marvin Gaye Heirs Face Counterclaim in “Blurred Lines” Legal Battle

    Robin Thicke’s summer hit, “Blurred Lines” has come under fire this week, and the heirs of Marvin Gaye definitely aren’t happy. According to the court documents filed on Wednesday, Gaye’s children allege that “Blurred Lines” is an ‘illegal rip-off’ of Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit, “Got to Give it Up.”

    The song, which is also the name of Thicke’s sixth studio album, was produced by hip hop legend, Pharrell Williams, and written by rapper Clifford “T.I.” Harris and Robin Thicke, himself. While all three artists are accused of copyright violations, they aren’t the only ones who have come under fire. Gaye’s heirs also placed blame on Sony-ATV. For those who aren’t aware of Sony-ATV’s role in the industry, the company is a music publishing subsidiary owned and operated by Sony Music and the Estate of Michael Jackson.
    (image)

    In a nutshell, their role is to manage, distribute, and pay out prospective royalties for records on behalf of performing artists, producers and songwriters. The Gaye family is accusing the company of failure to uphold its responsibility in protecting the copyright of Gaye’s music catalog.
    http://youtu.be/75BlzjqGVcc

    Sony-ATV was contracted by Gaye’s family following his death to manage his music catalog. However, conflict of interest is the crux of the problem in this particular matter. According to CNN, a counterclaim, also filed on Wednesday, revealed that the company also represents Pharrell Williams, which is why Sony-ATV ‘reluctantly’ refused to sue him, Thicke, and Harris when the Gaye family asked them to do so. The counterclaim was filed on behalf of the “Blurred Lines” artists in response to the lawsuit.

    Thicke’s lawsuit also states that there are “no similarities” between the two records other than instrumental and commonplace elements relative to style musicianship. Thicke also argues that his record is not a form of copyright infringement simply because his record reminds listener’s of Gaye’s record.
    (image)

    “Blurred Lines” was definitely a chart topping summer hit, holding strong on the Billboard pop charts for a record-breaking 16 weeks. The court documents report that the record’s sales also spoke volumes in regards to its chart-topping status, as it sold more than 6 million copies.

  • Marvin Gaye’s Children Sue Robin Thicke

    Marvin Gaye’s children filed court documents Wednesday claiming that the “Blurred Lines” singer, Robin Thicke, copied their father’s hit song, “Got to Give It Up”. They are also accusing Thicke of copying another one of Gaye’s popular songs “After the Dance” when Thicke recorded his song, “Love After War”, in 2011.

    The lawsuit not only claims that Robin Thicke and the “Blurred Lines” co-writers, Pharrell Williams and “T.I.” Clifford Harris Jr., copied their father’s song, but also states they believe Son-ATV failed to protect the copyright status.

    Thicke also filed a suit in August asking the judge to declare there was no copyright infringement stating, “Being reminiscent of a ‘sound’ is not copyright infringement.” The suit also states: “Plaintiffs, who have the utmost respect for and admiration of Marvin Gaye, Funkadelic and their musical legacies, reluctantly file this action in the face of multiple adverse claims from alleged successors in interest to those artists,” the suit says. “Defendants continue to insist that plaintiffs’ massively successful composition, ‘Blurred Lines,’ copies ‘their’ compositions.”

    Gaye’s children believe differently. In a recent interview, Thicke supposedly said he was wanting to create a song similar to Gaye’s because it had always been one of his favorites. “Pharrell and I were in the studio making a couple records, and then on the third day I told him I wanted to do something kinda like Marvin Gaye’s ‘Got To Give It Up,’ that kind of feel ’cause it’s one of my favorite songs of all time’,” Thicke reportedly said. “So he started messing with some drums and then he started going ‘hey, hey, hey’ and about an hour and a half later we had the whole record finished.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons