Songwriter made “concerted plan” to “target” Ed Sheeran, High Court hears

Red Hot Chili Peppers are currently leading the pack in the race for this week’s Number One album in the UK.On Friday (April 1), the California icons released their 12th studio LP, ‘Unlimited Love’, marking their first full-length project since 2016’s ‘The Getaway’.The album sees the band reunite with guitarist John Frusciante, who left Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2009. He last appeared on the group’s 2006 Number One album ‘Stadium Arcadium’.In the midweeks, the Official Charts Company has revealed that ‘Unlimited Love’ is outselling its closest competition – Ed Sheeran‘s ‘=’ – by 8:1.

Example has revealed that Matt Lucas had to step in as a contestant on The Great Celebrity Bake Off after Martine McCutcheon pulled out of the show last minute. The Great British Bake Off special in aid of Stand up to Cancer has seen a new host of celebrities step into the famous tent to bake for the judges, Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood.

The ‘Shape Of You’ song-theft court case has now concluded with judge Antony Zacaroli busy considering whether or not Ed Sheeran is indeed a musical magpie and squirrel, who likes lifting elements of other people’s songs when making his music. Or, at least, who lifted a key line from the 2015 track ‘Oh Why’ when he wrote his 2017 hit ‘Shape Of You’.Sami Chokri reckons that Sheeran got a copy of his track ‘Oh Why’ through mutual friends or industry connections and then, when the star and his songwriting pals got together in late 2016 to write ‘Shape Of You’, he either consciously or subconsciously utilised a key element of the earlier song within his hit.But Sheeran and his collaborators deny having ever heard ‘Oh Why’ before writing ‘Shape Of You’.

Matt Goss is feeling ambitious. 

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.

Ukraine, a fundraiser being held at the Resorts World Arena on Tuesday, March 29. But Ed is no stranger to Brum, and has been known to hang around outside of gigs in our pubs. Back in the summer of 2019, the singer came to Birmingham to record a music video with Birmingham grime MC Jaykae and Manchester's Aitch.

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’.

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.

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.

CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke review key events in music and the music business from the last week, including Ed Sheeran’s trip to the High Court in London in a bid to defeat a song-theft lawsuit filed against him and his musical collaborators in relation to his 2017 track ‘Shape Of You’, and the return of LimeWire – not as a piece of peer-to-peer file-sharing software, but as a music NFT marketplace.

World renowned singer Ed Sheeran has been relying on the support of his wife Cherry Seaborn amid his "disturbing and stressful" court case, which has seen him accused of copying music from other artists, a source has revealed. Ross O' Donoghue and Sami Chokri (who goes by the grime artist name Sami Switch) have alleged that Ed's 2017 'Shape of You' from his bestselling album ÷ ("Divide") used snippets from their own song 'Oh Why', and filed an official legal complaint back in 2018.

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 sang Nina Simone‘s ‘Feeling Good’ and Blackstreet‘s ‘No Diggity’ in London’s High Court yesterday (March 8) as his ongoing plagiarism court case regarding his song ‘Shape Of You’ continues.Sheeran has denied lifting the “oh I, oh I, oh I” hook in his 2017 hit single from Sami Chokri’s (AKA Sami Switch) 2015 track ‘Oh Why’. The singer has also rejected the suggestion that he heard ‘Oh Why’ before he wrote ‘Shape Of You’ in October 2016.Royalties from ‘Shape Of You’, estimated to be worth £20million, have been frozen since Chokri and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue issued a claim for “copyright infringement, damages and an account of profits in relation to the alleged infringement” in July 2018.As BBC News reports, Sheeran sang snippets of Simone’s 1965 rendition of ‘Feeling Good’ and Blackstreet’s 1996 hit ‘No Diggity’ in court yesterday in an effort to illustrate how the “oh I” melody is commonplace in pop music.

Today, Dave's surprise new single Starlight tops the UK's Official Trending Chart, the Official Charts Company can reveal.

Ed Sheeran has given testimony in an ongoing court case surrounding his Number One 2017 single, ‘Shape of You’.As reported last week, Sheeran is currently in a legal battle that has been taken to High Court by two songwriters, Sami Chokri (AKA Sami Switch) and Ross O’Donoghue. The pair have claimed ‘Shape of You’ is similar to their 2015 song ‘Oh Why’, pointing to “particular lines and phrases” that draw parallels between the two.At a previous hearing, Sheeran was branded as a “magpie” by Chokri and O’Donoghue’s lawyer, Andrew Sutcliffe QC, with regards to his approach to songwriting.