So I often used to play at the various stages in Westfield London or Westfield Stratford throughout the year. This all happened after I managed to WIN (not at all smug about it) ‘Westfield Presents’ November 2015 Artist of The Month – sponsored by Sennheiser. One sunny afternoon I was singing on The Southern Terrace Stage at Westfield London, there was a nice passing family-friendly crowd gathering and so I decided to do a bit of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”. Appropriate.

I love that tune. I used to sing it in school but for obvious reasons my teachers wouldn’t let me sing it in the school concerts…

So I decided to put it in my set when I first started gigging. I thought I was being really clever when I made the MIND BLOWING discovery that I could mash the song up with Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”. Then I’d seen on YouTube that many other artist’s had also made that discovery (including Ed Sheeran) and so I didn’t feel that clever anymore. But still it works well in a set because for 3 minutes audience members find it just as clever as I did! So I put it in my Westfield set and, as predicted, the audience thought I was a genius.

I soon went from “I’m so smart” to “I knew nothing of the sort” when I read “Ed Sheeran sued for allegedly copying Marvin Gaye classic Let’s Get It On”.

Was one of Marvin Gaye’s publicists sitting in the audience that sunny afternoon in Westfields? Did I instigate a $20million law suit against wonderfully talented Mr Ed?

Realistically?….no. I’ve never understood how you can sue an artist for having a song with a similar chord progression to another. A song is more than just a chord progression, it’s about the melody, the lyrics, the dynamics, the concept, the rhythm and everything else. My original track “The Girl” gets likened to Nina Simone’s “My Baby Just Cares For Me” (1958). Similar intro but COMPLETELY different song. In fact I could play a basic chord progression over and over and sing you about a third of the popular music repertoire (but then I’d just be showing off).

I truly hoped that Ed had won his day in court rather than take the less expensive way out and settle. He’s great. In a world of manufactured music, I think Ed Sheeran is one of the fewer artists that bring art and originality.

My band say to me, ‘We probably shouldn’t do that mash up anymore.’
I say, ‘Na we’re still gonna do it anyway.’

You can download a copy of my mash up of the two tracks by clicking here <==.