Long before Lionel Richie became known to a new generation as one of American Idol's judges, he was busy recording and releasing one hit song after another. Thanks to all the success that Richie enjoyed, his songs provided the soundtrack to millions of people's lives.
Unsurprisingly, Richie's music career has been so financially rewarding for the legendary singer that he has amassed an impressive fortune. However, it turns out that several of Richie's songs, including one of his most popular, became a headache for him since he was sued for plagiarism.
Why Was Lionel Richis Accused Of Plagiarism?
When the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla was held on May 6th, 2023, it was a huge deal that was watched by people from all around the world. As a result, it is safe to say that when Lionel Richie was tapped to play at the Coronation, that was evidence of how successful his career has been.
Unfortunately for Richie and his fans worldwide, his Coronation performance became quite controversial when viewers complained about the quality of his singing. Prior to Richie's Coronation performance, he has always been respected as a great singer. However, Richie's music has been scandalous in the past.
In 1985, Richie arguably was at the height of his career. After leaving The Commodores and going solo, Richie released two hit albums, 1982's "Lionel Richie" and 1983's "Can't Slow Down", both of which featured several hit songs.
The following year in 1986, Richie released his incredibly popular album "Dancing on the Ceiling". On that album there were songs like "Dancing on the Ceiling", "Hello", and "Say You, Say Me" among others.
Considering that Richie's career was on fire at that time, he should have been able to enjoy 1985 to its fullest. Unfortunately for Richie, however, his 1985 was marred when he was hit with a lawsuit that would have been a headache for him for many years.
That year, two songwriters named Gene Thompson and Tracey Singleton sued Richie in U.S. District Court and sought $3 million in damages. According to Singleton and Thompson's lawsuit, several of Richie's songs were rip-offs of two songs they wrote in 1979 titled "Somebody's Got to Love Her" and "You and Me".
The first song that Thompson and Singleton claimed Richie ripped off from them is "Stuck on You". Widely regarded as Richie's debut country music song, the popular singer even wore a cowboy hat on the album art for the single of the song.
The two other songs that Thompson and Singleton claimed were ripped off from him were "Deep River Woman" and "Se La". The interesting thing about that is those two songs were released on Richie's 1986 album, so it is interesting that Thompson sued over them in 1985.
Given that Thompson claimed that "Stuck On You" and the two other songs were ripped off from only two of his tracks, that also is fascinating. Perhaps Singleton and Thompson's songs had a style change part way through the song. Either way, there is no way for Richie's fans to know how much Richie's tracks sound like Singleton and Thompson's songs today since the duo's songs aren't available online.
What is clear about this case is that one judge believed that Thompson and Singleton's case lacked any merit. After having two opposing music experts weigh in and say that Richie and Singleton/Thompson's songs had no substantial similarity, U.S. District Judge James M. Ideman threw out the case in 1987.
Furthermore, after concluding that Singleton and Thompson's case didn't have merit, Judge Ideman ruled against them in another way. After declaring that Thompson and Singleton's lawsuit was frivolous, Judge Ideman ordered them to pay Richie's legal fees which amounted to $34,307 at that time.
Unfortunately for Richie, that didn't turn out to be the end of things as Thompson and Singleton appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ultimately the Court of Appeals ruled that Judge Ideman's ruling was premature and threw it out.
In their ruling, the Court of Appeals judges stated their reasons for overruling Judge Ideman. "We feel the ears of the court must yield to the ears of the jurors."
Once the Court of Appeals ruled that Singleton and Thompson's lawsuit against Richie must go to trial, it would take a long time for the matter to wind up in court. In fact, it was more than four years later that Richie and Thompson would finally get a final ruling on the matter.
Did Lionel Richie Win Or Lose The Plagiarism Lawsuit He Faced?
When Lionel Richie was sued by Gene Thompson and Tracey Singleton, he almost certainly had no idea how long it would take for him to put the matter behind him. After the lawsuit was filed in 1985, it wasn't until November 1991 that the case would finally be put to bed.
After Singleton and Thompson finally got their day in court, they clearly didn't do a great job making their case. The reason for that is not only did Singleton and Thompson ultimately lose their case once again, but it also appears likely that it wasn't even close.
In their coverage of the lawsuit, the New York Times revealed a fascinating tidbit about how things played out once the jury was allowed to make their decision. According to the New York Times report, the jury was only out for "a few hours" before they reached their verdict.
While it should be obvious that the jury found in Richie's favor, the reasons for their verdict were interesting. Instead of saying that Richie's songs weren't similar enough to the tracks Singleton and Thompson wrote, the jury had another motivation for their verdict.
As the New York Times summarized, the jury found there wasn't enough evidence that Richie heard Singleton and Thompson's songs to copy them. "The songwriters had not proven that Richie had probably heard a tape they sent him in 1980".
No matter what the reason for the verdict was, Richie told the New York Times what he was going to do now that the lawsuit was behind him. “I can go home and go to sleep now.”
