Uh oh, Pharrell Williams could soon be very unhappy.
Williams and Robin Thicke recently lost a multi-million dollar lawsuit to Marvin Gaye’s family for the song “Blurred Lines” which Gaye’s family claimed to was plagiarised from Gaye’s 1970’s single “Got To Give It Up”. The duo along with featured rapper T.I were ordered to pay a total of USD7.3 million in damages.
Now, the Gaye family is sound off on another one of Pharrell’s mega-hit, “Happy“.
“I’m not going to lie. I do think they sound alike,” Nona Gaye, Marvin’s daughter, told CBS of Pharrell’s “Happy” and Gaye’s 1965 song “Ain’t That Peculiar.”
Gaye performed vocals on “Ain’t That Peculiar,” which was written by Pete Moore, William “Smokey” Robinson, Bobby Rogers and Marv Tarplin. The song peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Pharrell’s 2014 hit “Happy” which was also the soundtrack for “Despicable Me 2”, took the world by storm as it sold an estimated 10 million units worldwide, won the Grammy for best music video and topped Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 songs chart.
However, Gaye’s family are not considering legal action against Pharrell. Not for now, at least.
“We’re not in that space,” Nona said.
Marvin’s ex-wife, Janis Gaye, said her family would savour their most recent legal victory, before thinking of launching another one.
“We’re just in the moment today and we’re satisfied,” she noted. “I heard the mash-ups — but I didn’t really need to hear them. I know “Ain’t That Peculiar” and I’ve heard “Happy””.
Listen to the mashup of “Happy” and “Ain’t That Peculiar” below and let us know what you think by sounding off in the comments section.
via Billboard
