Guyanese international recording artiste Eddy Grant may take legal action against a British pop band for pirating one of his hits produced in the 1980s.
According to a report in UK’s Independent, Grant yesterday accused pop band Gorillaz, a band composed of four animated characters formed over a decade ago, of ‘nicking’ the music from his dance classic, “Time Warp”, for their latest single, “Stylo”, which features on the band’s album ‘Plastic Beach’, currently at number two in the UK album charts
According to the report, Grant, 62, launched a broadside at the band, claiming that their single was a “blatant rip-off” of his track. He accused Gorillaz, known for their 2005 hits “Feel Good Inc” and “Dare”, of infringing his song’s copyright, suggesting that the group used his composition knowingly and as such, he has referred the case to his lawyers, vowing to “take it to God, let alone the courts”.
He stated that the band should admit that the song was pirated, that he be given full credit for the track and an apology be made by Gorillaz.
“This is pure piracy, it is an obvious infringement of my song,” Grant is quoted as saying, adding “Anyone who knows ‘Time Warp’ will know this is ‘Time Warp’ with people singing and rapping over it, [along] with funny little noises.” He added that the track, “is a very popular song and has been a staple of the DJ scene for many years and I feel total disrespect from Gorillaz and their management company.”
According to the report, Grant’s record company, Greenheart Music Limited, which published “Time Warp”, is administered by EMI Publishing, which also published “Stylo” and on this note, he expressed dismay at the recording company, although he did not hold the company accountable for the current situation.
“I am very angry that this was not picked up by our mutual publisher EMI’s administration division,” he said. Grant said he does not blame EMI publishing for situation but noted that, “the state of the industry at the current time with all labels and publishers folding into one and becoming incestuous. It’s such an obvious copy that from day one, the band and their management should have taken control of this situation with EMI Publishing.”
According to the report in the Independent, Dylan Jones, the vice-president of corporate communications and marketing at EMI Music Publishing, in New York, said that, “This is a private matter between Eddy Grant and Gorillaz, and we’re not intending to make any further comment.” Jones refused to confirm a report that EMI Publishing has enlisted a musicologist to analyze the two songs.
According to the article, music websites and the blogosphere were yesterday divided on the alleged similarity between the two songs, with one blogger on the Addict Music site stating that Grant was being over-sensitive, while comments on YouTube’s message board were more mixed, with one writer claiming that “Gorillaz is slower and the bass line is not even close”. Another person, commenting on Grant’s song said a “great tune (this), anyone else think that Gorillaz ripped it off a bit?”
Grant, who is now based in Barbados, had in his prime churned out several chart topping hits such as “I Don’t Wanna Dance” which spent three weeks at number one in the UK singles chart. A year later, the single “Electric Avenue” was both a British and American number two hit, selling more than a million copies.
