Ice Cold: Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars Sued For Ripping Off ‘Uptown Funk’

In news that is decidedly not stylin’ nor particularly hot, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars are being taken to court over claims that they ripped off their hit single ‘Uptown Funk‘. 
Per reports in Pitchfork, the complaint was filed by a Minneapolis electo-funk band called Collage, who say that Ronson’s hit is a “strikingly and/or substantially similar copy” of their 1983 track ‘Young Girls‘. 
The complaint goes into detail about similarities between the two tracks, saying, in part:
“Upon information and belief, many of the main instrumental attributes and themes of Uptown Funk are deliberately and clearly copied from Young Girls, including, but not limited to, the distinct funky specifically noted and timed consistent guitar riffs present throughout the compositions, virtually if not identical bass notes and sequence, rhythm, structure, crescendo of horns and synthesizers rendering the compositions almost indistinguishable if played over each other and strikingly similar if played in consecutively.”

The sole surviving member of Collage is Larry White, but the estates of two deceased group members, Grady Wilkins and Lee Peters, are also listed as defendants in the suit. 

Alongside Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson, others named as defendants include Trinidad James, Jeff Bhasker, Devon Gallaspy, Phillip Lawrence, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner/Chappell Music, Atlantic Records and RCA Records.
Here’s the original Collage track in question:
In case you missed it the last 150 times it was on the radio, here’s ‘Uptown Funk’ again:
Earlier this year, there were separate allegations by a group called The Sequence that ‘Uptown Funk’ had ripped off their 1979 track ‘Funk You Up‘, although there was no lawsuit brought in that case.
Source: Pitchfork.
Photo: Larry Busacca / Getty.

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