Ed Sheeran is starting to get a reputation.
He’s reportedly settled a copyright claim on his hit record, “Photograph.” A pair of songwriters named Martin Harrington and Tom Leonard sued, saying “Photograph” sounded like their song “Amazing.” Sheeran didn’t wait to find out how a judge or jury would feel about it. Presumably money has changed hands.
Sheeran is not new to this game. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that Sheeran had to give credit and copyright to the authors of the TLC hit “No Scrubs.” Sheeran’s current smash, “Shape of You,” sounds just like it. Sing along.
There is also a pending lawsuit over his hit “Thinking of You.” I always said that song sounded like Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On.” Eventually the Gaye estate caught up to it.
Sheeran plays acoustic guitar, is from Yorkshire, England, and comes off like a cross between Van Morrison and Elton John. Only those two never had these problems. They wrote original music. Sheeran says he took a year off to write his new album, “Divide,” but maybe he was listening to the radio a lot. In any case, he wants to be taken seriously. This is not the legacy he wants.
