Ed Sheeran denies 'borrowing' from other songwriters in witness box for copyright trial

J Balvin and Ed Sheeran may not seem a likely pairing on paper but ̶m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶l̶y̶ ̶l̶i̶s̶t̶e̶n̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶i̶g̶u̶r̶e̶s̶ musical connections are hard to deny. Today the pair are sharing two songs, billed as an EP, one of which leans into Balvin's comfort zone of party starting reggaeton ("Sigue") and another more in Sheeran's earnest balladeering wheelhouse.

Camila Cabello, 25, and Shawn Mendes, 23, may have been one of Hollywood’s hottest couples in the past, but now that their romance is over, she’s looking toward music and fellow singers to help her move on to the next chapter of her life. The singer has teamed up with Ed Sheeran for the new song “Bam Bam” and it turns out it’s been helping her focus on her life and future goals in both her career and love life.

Announced last week, the two-hour benefit show will air March 29 on ITV in aid of the Disasters Emergency Committee‘s (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.After hearing of the concert’s announcement, the members of Antytila – who are currently fighting the Russians in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv – sent a video message to Ed Sheeran via Facebook to ask to play the concert remotely from their home country.The ‘Bad Habits’ hitmaker responded by telling the band: “I just watched your video this morning, thank you so much for sending it. Firstly I just wanted to say to all Ukrainians, I love you, I stand with you and I’m so proud to be playing this fundraising event next week.”However, Antytila have now been told they will not be permitted to perform as part of the benefit, with organisers explaining that the event must avoid association with the military.“Because we are standing with guns and helmets, we are soldiers, and this concert is not for soldiers but for helping civilian people,” singer Taras Topolya said in a video posted to social media.The singer said the band accepted the stance taken by the concert: “First of all we are musicians, helmets and body armour are temporary, but we understand the answer and we accept it.”He added: “The main thing is the people of the United Kingdom must stand with Ukraine.”@antytila_offic’s response “First of all, we’re musicians.

An 11-day trial over the copyright of Ed Sheeran's hit song “Shape of You" concluded in London on Tuesday, with the judge saying he would take some time to consider his ruling.The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, deny accusations that the 2017 song copies part of a 2015 song called “Oh Why” by Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch.Lawyer Andrew Sutcliffe, representing the “Oh Why” co-writers, argued there was an “indisputable similarity between the works” and suggested the chances of two songs that “correlate” appearing within months of each other was “minutely small."The lawyer claimed that Sheeran had “Oh Why” “consciously or unconsciously in his head" when “Shape of You” was written in 2016. He also alleged that Sheeran, who attended the hearing throughout, was dishonest and evasive in giving evidence to the trial.Sheeran and his co-writers say they have disclosed material to the trial and do not remember hearing “Oh Why” before the court case.Justice Antony Zacaroli said Tuesday he would deliver his judgment “as soon as I can.”“Shape of You” was the biggest selling song in the U.K.

Ed Sheeran has found the 'Shape of You' copyright trial to be "deeply traumatising". The 31-year-old pop star has been taken to court by grime artist Sami Chokri who claims that the melody of the smash hit is "strikingly similar" to that of his 2015 song 'Oh Why' and Ed and his team have been badly affected by the accusation and case, according to his lawyer. Ian Mill QC told the High Court: "[The case] has been deeply traumatising [for Ed and his co-writers.

Ed Sheeran, The Chemical Brothers and more have donated to a series of exclusive prize draws for the DEC's Ukraine appeal. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is holding a number of draws with prizes ranging from special meet and greets to VIP concert tickets to benefit the organisation's Ukraine humanitarian aid appeal.

Ed Sheeran and his co-writers in the ‘Shape of You’ copyright trial has said the legal row has been “deeply traumatising” for them.Ian Mill QC described the dispute as “terribly, terribly unfortunate” at a hearing in London yesterday (March 23) and argued that the case “should never have got to trial” [via Metro].The High Court was informed of Mill’s comments as the trial is expected to conclude today (March 22) and Mr Justice Zacaroli’s judgment to follow at a later date.Grime artist Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch, is claiming that Sheeran’s 2017 hit infringes “particular lines and phrases” of his 2015 song ‘Oh Why’.

Ed Sheeran has teased footage of him performing new music with J Balvin.The singer-songwriter posted a clip, which you can view below, and revealed that the pair have recorded two new songs together.“So I want to share something with you that I’ve been working on. I met @jbalvin in a gym in New York last year,” Sheeran wrote on Twitter. “It was just me and him very early in the morning.

Ed Sheeran‘s ‘Shape Of You’ is “coincidentally similar” and bears “distinctive differences” to the song the singer is accused of copying.It’s alleged that Sheeran and two of his co-writers, Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac, lifted  “particular lines and phrases” for the 2017 ‘÷’ single from a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Switch (real name Sam Chokri).The latter artist and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue claim that Sheeran took the “oh I, oh I, oh I, oh I” hook from the aforementioned song, which was released in 2015.

Ed Sheeran was hit with a “concerted plan” to secure his interest in a songwriter who then accused him of copying one of his songs for ‘Shape Of You’, the High Court was told yesterday (March 15).Sheeran and two of his co-writers, Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac, have been accused of lifting “particular lines and phrases” for the 2017 ‘÷’ single from a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Switch (real name Sam Chokri).The latter artist and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue have alleged that Sheeran took the “oh I, oh I, oh I, oh I” hook from the aforementioned song, which was released back in 2015.

Related: From Ed Sheeran to Katy Perry, plagiarism claims are an occupational hazard for musicians In written evidence, David May, managing director of Artists and Company (A&C), a firm that used to manage Chokri, said that when Oh Why was being promoted the outfit had “a concerted plan to target Ed Sheeran in the hope of engaging his interest in Sami’s work … We did not target any other artist in the same way. ”He added: “We felt that, if Ed Sheeran could see Sami’s work, he would recognise his talent.

Radio 1 has announced the line-up for this year’s Big Weekend festival, which will take place in Coventry in May. Headlining the first physical edition of the event since 2019 – thanks to the pandemic – will be Mr Ed Sheeran himself.“I can’t wait to kick off festival season and perform in front of a live audience at Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2022 in Coventry”, says Sheeran, covering all the facts as efficiently as possible.If you’re wondering what a less efficient version of that statement would look like, here’s Head Of Radio 1 Aled Haydn Jones: “We are kicking off the UK’s festival season in true Radio 1 style with an incredible line-up of acts already on the bill, and more exciting names to be revealed this week.

Ed Sheeran’s track ‘Shape Of You’ has told London’s High Court he felt “belittled” by the superstar’s lawyers.Chokri, who performs as Sami Switch, was in court today (March 14) as part of the ongoing copyright court case regarding his song ‘Oh Why’ and Sheeran’s 2017 single.“I feel like I’ve been robbed by someone I respect, or respected,” he told the court, according to the BBC.“This is years of a cloud over my head,” Chokri went on to say. “All I heard and read was emails belittling me and my questions.”Sami Switch continued: “All I wanted to do was ask for an explanation.

Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris, Aitch, AJ Tracey, Anne Marie, Central Cee, Joel Corry and Yungblud are all set to perform on the main stage on Saturday, May 28 in Coventry.The BBC Music Introducing Stage will welcome Artemas, Celina Sharma, Deyah, Jordan MacKampa, Tamera, Thomas Headon, USNA and Willow Kayne on Saturday and Alfie Indra, Crawlers, Danniella Dee, Hope Tala, Lizzie Esau, Piri & Tommy, Queen Millz and Sad Night Dynamite on Sunday (May 29).It was announced last November last year that Radio 1’s Big Weekend would return in 2022 from May 27-29 after a two-year break. The annual event was held virtually in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-enforced restrictions.The 2019 edition of Big Weekend took place in Middlesbrough, with performances coming from Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, The 1975, Foals, Vampire Weekend and more.Some #BigWeekend line-up news! Performing on the Main Stage on Saturday 28th May:✨ @CalvinHarris✨ @EdSheeran✨ @OfficialAitch✨ @ajtracey✨ @AnneMarie✨ Central Cee✨ @JoelCorry✨ @Yungblud Everything you need to know about this year’s event: https://t.co/GNEZRXbbVS pic.twitter.com/uswiaDjRkJ— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) March 14, 2022Both Ed Sheeran and Anne Marie have told Radio 1 they “can’t wait” to perform at the festival (via BBC), with Sheeran adding: “See you all there!”More names will be revealed in due course, along with the main stage acts for the Sunday edition.There are 8,000 tickets available to purchase for Friday and 39,500 tickets available to purchase, per day for Saturday and Sunday.

Katy Perry has won a copyright infringement case against a rapper who claimed she stole his music to make her hit single ‘Dark Horse’.On Thursday (March 10) a federal appeals court refused to reinstate the original $2.8million verdict against Perry.In 2014, when Marcus Gray, who performs as Flame, alleged that the pop singer had copied his track ‘Joyful Noise’, jurors sided with him. However, in 2020 a judge overturned the original verdict.At the time, the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ copyright ruling was used as a precedent for overruling the initial verdict, noting that the notes Perry repeated during the song, were too simple to justify copyright protection.

Another co-writer of the Ed Sheeran hit ‘Shape Of You’ took to the witness stand in the high court in London yesterday as the song-theft case against Sheeran and his musical collaborators continues. Producer Steve Mac – real name Steven McCutcheon – said the writing of ‘Shape Of You’ was very rapid and very collaborative.Sheeran and his songwriting collaborators – including McCutcheon – are accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue when they wrote their 2017 hit.

Ed Sheeran was left looking confused in court after a brand new song was played by mistake during his “Shape of You” trial. The singer-songwriter was “disconcerted” after an error resulted in the never-before-heard track being heard by those present in the High Court on Tuesday (8 March). Sheeran, looking at his lawyers, said: “That’s a song I wrote last January.

Ed Sheeran has denied claims that he “borrowed” parts of his hit 2017 track Shape Of You from other lesser-known artists. Shape Of You was at number one in the UK for 14 weeks at the time of its release. Songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue have alleged that the track uses snippets from their song Oh Why, and filed a legal complaint in 2018.The duo claim the “Oh I” hook is “strikingly similar” to that in their original track, which was released in 2015.