Ed Sheeran takes to stand in ‘Shape of You’ court case, denies plagiarism: “I have always tried to be completely fair”

Ed Sheeran gave another emotional tribute to late friend and cricket legend Shane Warne as he appeared on Australian TV show The Project on Wednesday 16 March. Shane tragically died on 4 March aged 52 after suffering a fatal a heart attack while on a trip in Koh Samui, Thailand, fans were devastated to learn along with his family and friends.

Ed Sheeran was hit with a “concerted plan” to secure his interest in a songwriter who then accused him of copying one of his songs for ‘Shape Of You’, the High Court was told yesterday (March 15).Sheeran and two of his co-writers, Johnny McDaid and Steve Mac, have been accused of lifting “particular lines and phrases” for the 2017 ‘÷’ single from a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Switch (real name Sam Chokri).The latter artist and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue have alleged that Sheeran took the “oh I, oh I, oh I, oh I” hook from the aforementioned song, which was released back in 2015.

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 has announced the Australia and New Zealand leg of his ‘+ – = ÷ x Tour’ – find tickets here.The singer-songwriter will embark on the run of dates in February 2023 in support of his most recent studio album, ‘=’, which came out last October. It’ll mark his first trip Down Under since the record-breaking ‘÷’ tour in 2018.Sheeran will kick off the stadium stint in Wellington, NZ on February 2 before making stop-offs in Auckland (February 10), Brisbane (17), Sydney (24), Melbourne (March 2), Adelaide (7) and Perth (12).Tickets go on general sale next Wednesday (March 23), with a pre-sale due to go live on Monday (March 21).

The artist who accuses Ed Sheeran of ripping off his track ‘Oh Why’ when writing ‘Shape Of You’ took to the witness stand yesterday as the big song-theft legal battle in the London high court continues.Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue argue that Sheeran likely got hold of a copy of their song ‘Oh Why’ from friends they have in common, and then consciously or subconsciously lifted elements of that track when writing ‘Shape Of You’. But Sheeran and his co-writers on the 2017 hit deny ever having heard ‘Oh Why’ before their songwriting sessions in late 2016, and argue that the elements shared by the two songs are commonplace in pop music.In a written statement and during his testimony in court yesterday, Chokri talked about how he actively tried to get a copy of his 2015 song to Sheeran.He said he was inspired by Sheeran’s success and recognised that if he could get an endorsement from the star that would be “a significant boost”.

Radio 1 has announced the line-up for this year’s Big Weekend festival, which will take place in Coventry in May. Headlining the first physical edition of the event since 2019 – thanks to the pandemic – will be Mr Ed Sheeran himself.“I can’t wait to kick off festival season and perform in front of a live audience at Radio 1’s Big Weekend 2022 in Coventry”, says Sheeran, covering all the facts as efficiently as possible.If you’re wondering what a less efficient version of that statement would look like, here’s Head Of Radio 1 Aled Haydn Jones: “We are kicking off the UK’s festival season in true Radio 1 style with an incredible line-up of acts already on the bill, and more exciting names to be revealed this week.

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.

Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris, Aitch, AJ Tracey, Anne Marie, Central Cee, Joel Corry and Yungblud are all set to perform on the main stage on Saturday, May 28 in Coventry.The BBC Music Introducing Stage will welcome Artemas, Celina Sharma, Deyah, Jordan MacKampa, Tamera, Thomas Headon, USNA and Willow Kayne on Saturday and Alfie Indra, Crawlers, Danniella Dee, Hope Tala, Lizzie Esau, Piri & Tommy, Queen Millz and Sad Night Dynamite on Sunday (May 29).It was announced last November last year that Radio 1’s Big Weekend would return in 2022 from May 27-29 after a two-year break. The annual event was held virtually in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-enforced restrictions.The 2019 edition of Big Weekend took place in Middlesbrough, with performances coming from Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, The 1975, Foals, Vampire Weekend and more.Some #BigWeekend line-up news! Performing on the Main Stage on Saturday 28th May:✨ @CalvinHarris✨ @EdSheeran✨ @OfficialAitch✨ @ajtracey✨ @AnneMarie✨ Central Cee✨ @JoelCorry✨ @Yungblud Everything you need to know about this year’s event: https://t.co/GNEZRXbbVS pic.twitter.com/uswiaDjRkJ— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) March 14, 2022Both Ed Sheeran and Anne Marie have told Radio 1 they “can’t wait” to perform at the festival (via BBC), with Sheeran adding: “See you all there!”More names will be revealed in due course, along with the main stage acts for the Sunday edition.There are 8,000 tickets available to purchase for Friday and 39,500 tickets available to purchase, per day for Saturday and Sunday.

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.

Katy Perry has won a copyright infringement case against a rapper who claimed she stole his music to make her hit single ‘Dark Horse’.On Thursday (March 10) a federal appeals court refused to reinstate the original $2.8million verdict against Perry.In 2014, when Marcus Gray, who performs as Flame, alleged that the pop singer had copied his track ‘Joyful Noise’, jurors sided with him. However, in 2020 a judge overturned the original verdict.At the time, the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ copyright ruling was used as a precedent for overruling the initial verdict, noting that the notes Perry repeated during the song, were too simple to justify copyright protection.

Another co-writer of the Ed Sheeran hit ‘Shape Of You’ took to the witness stand in the high court in London yesterday as the song-theft case against Sheeran and his musical collaborators continues. Producer Steve Mac – real name Steven McCutcheon – said the writing of ‘Shape Of You’ was very rapid and very collaborative.Sheeran and his songwriting collaborators – including McCutcheon – are accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue when they wrote their 2017 hit.

ED Sheeran created his No1 hit Shape of You at an extraordinary pace, his co-writer told the High Court yesterday. The singer was said to be a “whirlwind of ideas” when Steve McCutcheon met him for the first time to help on the 2017 single.

Courteney Cox, Ed Sheeran, Elton John and Brandi Carlile delighted fans last year when they teamed up for a surprise cover.

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.

Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid took to the stand in London’s high court yesterday in the ongoing song-theft legal battle over Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’, which he co-wrote. He mainly echoed comments already made by his musical collaborator earlier in the week, while also talking about the “culture” of dubious copyright claims in the US courts that followed the 2015 ‘Blurred Lines’ ruling, and insisting that the thought of plagiarising another artist’s work was “abhorrent”.Sheeran and his songwriting collaborators – including McDaid – are accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue when they wrote their 2017 hit.

Ed Sheeran‘s co-writer Johnny McDaid has described the idea of plagiarism as “abhorrent” during the ongoing copyright court case regarding ‘Shape Of You’.Sheeran, McDaid and co-writer Steve Mac have been accused of lifting “particular lines and phrases” for the 2017 ‘÷’ single from a track called ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Switch.The latter artist and his co-writer Ross O’Donoghue have alleged that Sheeran took the “oh I, oh I, oh I, oh I” hook from the aforementioned song, which was released back in 2015. Sheeran has denied the claim and rejected the suggestion that he heard ‘Oh Why’ before he wrote ‘Shape Of You’ in October 2016.As BBC News reports, Snow Patrol‘s McDaid claimed in written evidence that he could not recall ever hearing ‘Oh Why’ “in any way” and said he was unaware of Sami Switch before the current legal case began.“I have been a professional songwriter for many years and have achieved substantial success,” he wrote.“I do not need or want to, nor would I ever, plagiarise other people’s work.

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 has reportedly forked out a massive £3.7million to halt neighbour complaints at his sprawling estate in Suffolk after he faced a barrage of objections from disgruntled locals.The ever-growing home is said to have sparked uproar amongst the local community as the pop star continues to propose grandiose schemes to his mansion, which includes a swimming pool, two-story treehouse and a pub.It is believed that dad-of-one Ed has begun purchasing his neighbours houses in a bid to ease tensions and remove their objectiosn to his lavish building plans.The final home on his estate was added in 2019 when he reportedly paid £875,000 to buy out next-door neighbour Sharon Jest, who had often objected to his ongoing construction work.A neighbour in the town of Framlingham — which has a population of 3,342 and an average house price of £400,000 — told The Sun: “Ed paid over the odds for the new place, but he can afford it.”Ed’s neighbour Tony Robinson, 75, and seven other locals objected to plans by Ed to build an Anglo Saxon-style chapel, in which he wanted to marry his long-term girlfriend Cherry.The Shape Of You singer said some of his guests had “high profiles” and there would be a “need for discretion” which could not be met at the local parish church.Ed added that he wanted to build the flint chapel as a “retreat for contemplation and prayer”.In March 2018, Tony complained to the council: “It would appear that the applicant in his desire to satisfy the needs of the spiritual world continues to overlook his obligations to the living world, particularly that of protected species.”And Sharon, then in the house next door to Ed, wrote in her objection: “Over the last few years there has been and continues to be significant

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.

Ed Sheeran further discussed his creative process in the high court in London yesterday as the song-theft legal battle over his 2017 hit ‘Shape Of You’ continued. He also revealed how his team usually deal with songs he’s written that contain elements in common with old songs – a process that may or may not have been applied to the unreleased Sheeran track that got an unintended airing as yesterday’s court proceedings went through the motions.Sheeran and his songwriting collaborators are accused of ripping off the earlier track ‘Oh Why’ by Sami Chokri and Ross O’Donoghue when they wrote their 2017 hit.

Ed Sheeran has denied claims that he “borrowed” parts of his hit 2017 track Shape Of You from other lesser-known artists. Shape Of You was at number one in the UK for 14 weeks at the time of its release. Songwriters Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue have alleged that the track uses snippets from their song Oh Why, and filed a legal complaint in 2018.The duo claim the “Oh I” hook is “strikingly similar” to that in their original track, which was released in 2015.