Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television judge. After singing in church during her childhood, she pursued a career in gospel music as a teenager.
Perry signed with Red Hill Records and released her debut studio album Katy Hudson under her birth name in 2001, which was commercially unsuccessful. She moved to Los Angeles the following year to venture into secular music after Red Hill ceased operations and she subsequently began working with producers Glen Ballard, Dr. Luke, and Max Martin.
After adopting the stage name Katy Perry and being dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group and Columbia Records, she signed a recording contract with Capitol Records in April 2007.
Edward Christopher Sheeran, MBE (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (pronounced "plus"), was released in September 2011. It topped the UK and Australian charts, reached number five in the US, and has since been certified eight-times platinum in the UK.
The album contains the single "The A Team", which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. "The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John.
Will Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ Win Stop Other Copyright-Infringment Lawsuits? Attorneys Weigh in
variety.comJem Aswad Senior Music Editor Much of the music industry heaved a collective sigh of relief when the news broke Thursday that Ed Sheeran was found not liable on a copyright claim alleging that he copied key elements from the Marvin Gaye ‘70s hit “Let’s Get It On” for his own song “Thinking Out Loud.” The case is one of countless similar infringement cases that have been brought before courts, settled, or continue in seemingly endless loops of appeals.
But there’s little question that recent ones — at least the ones that followed the 2015 “Blurred Lines” decision that shook the industry — have sided with creators.
The lawsuit around Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” went on for five years before being decided initially in favor of Christian rapper Marcus Gray — who claimed her song was substantially similar to his earlier track “Joyful Noise” — but was overturned in 2020 when a judge ruled that the eight-note “ostinato” Perry allegedly copied lacked the “quantum of originality” to warrant copyright protection (Gray’s appeal was unsuccessful).
Later in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the long-running copyright battle over Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” leaving in place a ruling that rejected infringement allegations over the 1971 song.
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