Ed Sheeran and Andrea Bocelli performed their Perfect duet together publicly for the first time in London on Thursday night.
The Brit welcomed the Italian classical singer to the stage during his concert at Wembley Stadium and the pair performed the Italian version of the ballad, which Ed also recorded solo, and with Beyonce last year (17).
Introducing the song, Sheeran told the sold out audience, “This is the first time that we’ve played this and what a place to play it.”
He recorded the track with Bocelli at the opera star’s home in Italy, and captured the day they spent together there in the accompanying video.
Away from the concert stage, Sheeran is calling for the dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit surrounding his Thinking Out Loud hit after the biological daughter of Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On songwriting partner Ed Townsend filed suit, claiming he stole the melody, harmony, and rhythm compositions from the 1973 classic for his 2014 release.
Sheeran insists any perceived similarities between the two tracks are coincidental, noting the chord progressions and drum patterns used are “extremely commonplace” in the music industry, according to legal papers obtained by TMZ.com.
He goes on to claim the sequences in question are “unprotectable, public domain elements”, and maintains the bulk of the song structures of the two tunes are completely different.
Sheeran also explains the plaintiff isn’t even eligible to fight the claim on behalf of Townsend’s estate, because she was given up for adoption at birth, which apparently forbids her from suing under Californian law in this particular case, reports TMZ.
It’s not the first time the pop star has been taken to court over song similarities.
He is also currently locked in a legal war over The Rest of Our Life, a song he wrote for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and in 2016, he faced accusations he plagiarised parts of his track Photograph from Amazing, a tune performed by The X Factor U.K. winner Matt Cardle. That suit was settled privately last year (17).
