Ed Sheeran, accused of copying Marvin Gaye, testifies he wrote his song

Pop singer Ed Sheeran took the witness stand Tuesday at a closely watched copyright trial in which he stands accused of copying his ballad Thinking Out Loud from Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, and told a jury that he and a collaborator had written their song based on their own experiences.

Appearing at federal court in Manhattan in a dark suit and blue tie, with his red hair tousled, Sheeran was asked by lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case, who own rights to Gaye’s song, about whether Sheeran and his co-writer, Amy Wadge, had created Thinking Out Loud independently.

“Yes, Amy Wadge and I wrote the song ‘Thinking Out Loud,’ ” Sheeran testified, explaining that they created the song, about holding on to romance throughout a long life, after seeing the affection between his aged grandparents.

The case was brought by the family of Ed Townsend, a producer and songwriter who created Let’s Get It On with Gaye in 1973. They assert that the “heart” of Let’s Get It On — a four-chord progression that repeats in a signature syncopated rhythm — was copied by Sheeran for his track. Lawyers for Sheeran argue that those elements are basic musical building blocks that are in the public domain and have turned up in numerous other pop songs.

In opening statements, Ben Crump, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, urged the jury to use “common sense” in comparing the songs, and said that the evidence in the case included what he described as “a smoking gun”: a fan video from a concert that showed Sheeran performing a “mash-up,” or medley, in which he moved seamlessly between performing Thinking Out Loud and“Let’s Get It On, and back again.

“That concert video is a confession,” said Crump, who is best known as a civil rights lawyer who represented the family of George Floyd, who was killed by police in 2020.

After a delay in which the judge in the case, Louis L. Stanton, reviewed the video in chambers, it was played for the jury. Another lawyer for the plaintiffs, Keisha D. Rice, asked Sheeran about the performance.

He said that he frequently performs such “mash-ups” in concert, and that it is possible because many pop songs involve only a handful of chords.

“Most pop songs can fit over most pop songs,” Sheeran said.

“I’m just mashing up a song with another song,” he added.

Under questioning, Sheeran was never directly challenged on whether he had copied from Let’s Get It On, which he said he had first heard in an Austin Powers movie.

Ilene S. Farkas, a lawyer for Sheeran, said in her opening statement that Sheeran and Wadge had created Thinking Out Loud independently, without copying, and that the similarities between the songs are commonplace ingredients that are found in numerous songs, and are in the public domain for any musician to use.

She said that the plaintiffs “cannot own these common musical elements.”

The first witness, called just before noon, was Kathryn Griffin Townsend, the daughter of Townsend.

Wearing a tan coat with the word “integrity” emblazoned on the back, Griffin Townsend testified that once Thinking Out Loud came out, numerous acquaintances in the music world called to alert her to it, saying the similarity was striking to them. “Some said the words are just changed,” she said people would tell her. “It’s ‘Let’s Get It On.’”

She said she tried to reach representatives at Sony/ATV, the music publishing giant that represents Townsend’s catalog — as well as Sheeran’s — but could never reach anyone and got no response.

She praised Sheeran as “a great artist with a great future” and said she had brought the case reluctantly, saying she was no “copyright troll” — a term that usually describes an aggressive and litigious copyright owner whose primary strategy for making money is threatening or filing lawsuits.

“I have to protect my father’s legacy,” she said.

At the conclusion of Sheeran’s testimony, his lawyers said they would not cross-examine him, but would call him back to the stand at another point during the trial.