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lifestyle THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 2015 Music & Movies Marvin Gaye’s daughter, Nona Gaye, left, talks to the media outside the Los Angeles US District Court.—AP/ AFP photos This file photo taken on June 6, 2014 shows recording artists Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke performing during the Walmart 2014 annual share holders meeting at Bud Walton Arena at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Jury finds Pharrell, Thicke copied for ‘Blurred Lines’ song jury awarded Marvin Gaye’s children nearly $7.4 million ing arguments, Busch accused Thicke and Williams of lying Tuesday after determining singers Robin Thicke and about how the song was created. He told jurors they could APharrell Williams copied their father’s music to create award Gaye’s children millions of dollars if they determined “Blurred Lines,” the biggest hit song of 2013. Gaye’s daughter the copyright of “Got to Give It Up” was infringed. Nona Gaye wept as the verdict was read and was hugged by King denied there were any substantial similarities her attorney. “Right now, I feel free,” she said outside court. between “Blurred Lines” and the sheet music Gaye submitted “Free from ... Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and to obtain copyright protection. Williams has become a house- what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.” The hold name - known simply as Pharrell - thanks to his hit song verdict could tarnish the legacy of Williams, a reliable hit-mak- “Happy” and his work as a judge on the “The Voice.” He wrote er who has won Grammy Awards and appears on NBC’s music the majority of “Blurred Lines” and recorded it in one night competition show “The Voice.” with Thicke. A segment by rapper T.I. was added later. He and Thicke are “undoubtedly disappointed,” said their Williams, 41, also signed a document stating he didn’t use lead attorney, Howard King. “They’re unwavering in their any other artists’ work in the music and would be responsible absolute conviction that they wrote this song independently,” if a successful copyright claim was raised. The trial focused on he said. Thicke and Williams earned more than $7 million detailed analyses of chords and notes in both “Blurred Lines” apiece on the song, according to testimony. King has said a and “Got to Give It Up.” Jurors repeatedly heard the upbeat decision in favor of Gaye’s heirs could have a chilling effect on song “Blurred Lines” and saw snippets of its music video, but musicians who try to emulate an era or another artist’s sound. Gaye’s music was represented during the trial in a less pol- Larry Iser, an intellectual property attorney who has repre- ished form. Jurors did not hear “Got to Give It Up” as Gaye sented numerous musicians in copyright cases, was critical of recorded it, but rather a version created based solely on sheet the outcome. “Unfortunately, today’s jury verdict has blurred music submitted to gain copyright protection. the lines between protectable elements of a musical composi- That version lacked many of the elements - including tion and the unprotectable musical style or groove exempli- Gaye’s voice - that helped make the song a hit in 1977. Busch A combination of file photos made on March 11, 2015 shows (From left) US-Canadian singer Robin Thicke posing as he fied by Marvin Gaye,” Iser said. “Although Gaye was the Prince called the version used in court a “Frankenstein-like monster” arrives to attend the MTV European Music Awards (EMA) 2013 at the Ziggo Dome on November 10, 2013 in Amsterdam, of Soul, he didn’t own a copyright to the genre, and Thicke that didn’t accurately represent Gaye’s work. An expert for the US singer Marvin Gaye at London’s Heathrow airport in June 1980, and US recording artist Pharrell Williams posing and Williams’ homage to the feel of Marvin Gaye is not infring- Gaye family said there were eight distinct elements from “Got upon his arrival for the 86th Oscar’s Nominee’s Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on ing.” to Give It Up” that were used in “Blurred Lines,” but an expert February 10, 2014.-AFP Gaye’s children - Nona, Frankie and Marvin Gaye III - sued for Williams and Thicke denied those similarities existed. Gaye the two singers in 2013.Their lawyer, Richard Busch, branded Lines,” which Williams testified he crafted in about an hour in US alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures. It earned a died in April 1984, leaving his children the copyrights to his Williams and Thicke liars who went beyond trying to emulate mid-2012. Williams testified that Gaye’s music was part of the Grammy Awards nomination and netted Williams and Thicke music. — AP the sound of Gaye’s late-1970s music and copied the R&B leg- soundtrack of his youth. But the seven- time Grammy winner millions of dollars. The case was a struggle between two of end’s hit “Got to Give It Up” outright. said he didn’t use any of it to create “Blurred Lines.” music’s biggest names: Williams has sold more than 100 mil- The family “fought this fight despite every odd being lion records worldwide during his career as a singer-producer, against them,” Busch said after the verdict, which could face Closing arguments and Gaye performed hits such as “Sexual Healing” and “How years of appeals. Thicke told jurors he didn’t write “Blurred “Blurred Lines” has sold more than 7.3 million copies in the Sweet It Is (To be Loved by You)” remain popular. During clos- Top Gear presenter Clarkson suspended over ‘fracas’ he BBC said on Tuesday it had suspended Jeremy Clarkson, the controversial host of popular motoring pro- Tgram “Top Gear”, after he was involved in a “fracas” with a producer. The outspoken 54-year-old presenter helped the show become an immensely popular television program, with 350 million viewers a week in 170 countries. But he was on his final warning after a string of controversies including accusa- tions he used racist language. “Following a fracas with a BBC Some rare record albums, part of the 159 items of the largest private Elvis Presley’s collection are seen. producer, Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended pending an investigation,” the BBC said in a statement. “No one else has been suspended.” First Elvis single reissued in The Radio Times magazine said Clarkson was being accused of aiming a punch at a male producer in an incident that occurred last week but was reported to the BBC on Monday. The broadcaster had earlier said “the BBC will be making no fur- Jeremy Clarkson vinyl for Record Store Day ther comment at this time.” No sooner had the suspension been announced than fans of Clarkson set up a petition to the Clarkson and co-hosts Richard Hammond and James May were BBC to reinstate him. to showcase classic cars. he restored vinyl of Elvis Presley’s first single will go “We the undersigned petition the BBC to reinstate Jeremy Former England footballer Gary Lineker, who was due to on sale next month for Record Store Day, the growing Clarkson. Freedom to fracas”, said the online appeal at appear as a “star in a reasonably priced car” in the episode, Tannual sale to bolster independent retailers. More www.change.org, which quickly gained more than 122,000 sig- tweeted “I don’t think I’m ever meant to appear on Top Gear!” than 400 new records, including first-time releases and natures. “I’m signing because Clarkson is a superb presenter “Top Gear” is one of the BBC’s biggest brands and is a major reissues of classics, will be part of the latest Record Store and Top Gear is without doubt one (of) the BBC’s better pro- earner for the broadcaster, though it has been dogged by a Day on April 18 at stores across the world, organizers grams. The viewing figures support this,” wrote one supporter series of scandals. announced Tuesday. The event was established in 2008 named Peter Maxwell. The show’s executive producer Andy Wilman described and is credited with helping revive interest in vinyl and in “I pay my TV license to ensure that irreverent people can 2014 as “an annus horribilis” after accusations of racism and an local record stores, which have faced brutal competition in express themselves,” said another named Veronique Favreau. As incident in which the show’s crew were driven out of Argentina. the past decade as many consumers buy or listen for free the story made the front pages of most British papers Protests broke out there over the number plate of a Porsche, to digital music. Wednesday, Clarkson tweeted “Sorry Ed. It seems I knocked “H982 FKL”, which was interpreted by some as a reference to Third Man Records, a label and store in Nashville owned your ‘I’m a human’ piece down the news agenda.” He was the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina in 1982. by rocker Jack White, said it would release Elvis Presley’s apparently referring to a BBC interview with the wife of opposi- Clarkson was among those forced to abandon their vehicles rare first single-”My Happiness,” a version of a popular 20th tion Labour Party leader Ed Miliband. after an angry crowd pelted the crew with stones, but the BBC century US pop song, with the B-side “That’s When Your denied the registration plate was intended as a deliberate Heartaches Begin.” The record label said that it found the Dogged by scandals provocation.—APp sole original copy and has done its utmost to preserve the Clarkson in February indicated he might have been unhap- feel of the original 1953 recording, including packaging it py with the show by tweeting: “Wanted: new presenter for Top in a plain sleeve with a typewritten label as was then the Gear.