By Shannon Carlin
For anyone who’s confused about the “Blurred Lines” verdict, Marvin Gaye‘s children have written an open letter, which hopes to “set the record straight on a few misconceptions.” Including rumors that they’re suing Pharrell Williams over his song “Happy.”
The letter, written by Gaye’s three children Nona Gaye, Frankie Gaye and Marvin Gaye III, explains why they decided to take legal action against the track.
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“Great artists like our dad intentionally build their music to last, but we as the caretakers of such treasures, have an obligation to be vigilant about preserving the integrity of the music so that future generations understand its origins and feel its effect as the artist intended, and to assure that it retains its value,” the letter says.
The children go on to say that it was Robin Thicke and Pharrell who issued the initial lawsuit against them “forcing us into court” and that they would have gladly settled out of court if the two artists would have admitted the two songs sounded similar and were willing to come to a deal over the song.
They also say that reports that they’re suing Pharrell over “Happy” are “100% false.”
“We have absolutely no claim whatsoever concerning ‘Happy,'” they wrote.
They also clarify that the jury’s decision “was based entirely on the similarity of the basic musical compositions, not on ‘style,’ or ‘feel,’ or ‘era,’ or ‘genre'” since they were not allowed listen to the sound recording of Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” in the courtroom.
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For them it was the principle of the matter, giving credit where credit is due.
