UK News

Ed Sheeran threatens to quit music if he is found guilty in Marvin Gaye case

By Max Greenhalgh • Published: 02 May 2023 • 9:06 • 1 minute read

Ed Sheeran threatens to quit music if he is found guilty in Marvin Gaye case CREDIT: Wikimedia Commons

32 year old singer-songwriter says he’ll quit music if jury finds him guilty of plagiarising Marvin Gaye’s hit song ‘Let’s Get It On’.

Ed Sheeran has said he will quit music if he is found guilty in the latest plagiarism trial where he is accused of copying elements of the Marvin Gaye hit ‘Let’s Get It On’.

Asked how he would feel if found guilty Sheeran said: “If that happens, I’m done, I’m stopping. I find it really insulting to devote my whole life to being a performer and a songwriter and have someone diminish it.”

Sheeran is being sued by the family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the hit ‘Let’s Get It On’ with Marvin Gaye.
They claim there are ‘striking similarities’ between the track Townsend co-wrote and the Ed Sheeran hit ‘Thinking Out Loud’.

They are seeking $ 100 million in restitution.

His song topped the charts in both the UK and the United States. In 2016 it won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year but in 2017 Townsend’s family sued for copyright infringement.

Sheeran denies any wrongdoing and has stated the influence for the song was not Gaye but actually Irish sing-songwriter Van Morrison.

To prove his point, the singer strummed the four-chord sequence he is accused of lifting from ‘Let’s Get It On,’ as part of his rendition of Morrison tracks, including ‘Tupelo Honey’ and ‘Crazy Love.’