Ed Sheeran performed an impromptu gig before fans in the streets of New York on Friday (5 May) following his legal victory.
The singer-songwriter had been sued for allegedly plagiarising Marvin Gaye’s 1973 hit “Let’s Get it On” in his 2014 track “Thinking Out Loud”. This week, a jury ruled in favour of Sheeran.
Sheeran, whose latest album - (Subtract) was released on Friday, played music before fans outside his American Express pop-up in Manhattan’s SoHo area.
The musician climbed atop a parked car during the performance, which began with his recent single “Boat”.
Fans gathered around the musician and captured the moment on their cameraphones.
In the aftermath of his legal victory, Sheeran shared a lengthy and defiant statement with the public acknowledging the verdict.
“I’m obviously very happy with the outcome of the case,” he said. “It looks like I’m not having to retire from my day job after all.”
During the trial, Sheeran had suggested he would quit the music industry if the jury ruled against him.
His statement continued: “At the same time, I’m unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all. We’ve spent the last eight years talking about two songs with dramatically different lyrics, melodies and four chords, which are also different and are used by songwriters every day, all over the world.
“These chords are common building blocks, which were used to create music long before ‘Let’s Get It On’ was written and will be used to make music long after we are all gone. They are in a songwriter’s alphabet, our toolkit, and should be there for all of us to use. No one owns them or the way they’re played in the same way no one owns the colour blue.
“Unfortunately, unfounded claims like this are being fuelled by individuals who are offered as music experts in musical analysis.”
You can read Sheeran’s full statement here.
