Ed Sheeran sang, accompanying himself on guitar, in court during his plagiarism trial

The pop singer did with his means and his guitar. Ed Sheeran sang with his guitar at the bar of a New York court on Thursday April 27 in order to defend himself from having plagiarized a song by the American Marvin Gaye, report American media.

This is the second time in a year that the 32-year-old singer and songwriter has faced plagiarism charges in court. After winning a trial in London last year, he is this time challenged by the heirs of Ed Townsend, an American musician and producer who co-wrote “Let’s get it on” with Marvin Gaye. The hearing opened earlier this week in Manhattan.

Quoted by the prosecution, a musicologist said Thursday that the chord progression present on the two songs was almost similar. The Briton then took out his guitar, says the New York Times. He played the four key chords of his track “Thinking Out Loud”, ensuring that they were very different from those used in “Let’s Get It On” (1973), a soul classic sung by Marvin Gaye. Playing the scores one after the other, the artist wanted to demonstrate that that of Marvin Gaye’s piece did not work for his song.

A title written at the singer’s home

The British musician told the court about his songwriting story. It was in February 2014, at his home, with his usual musical partner Amy Wadge. “We sat down with our guitars”he said, quoted by ABC news. “We wrote a lot together”.

The singer reported getting out of the shower and hearing some Amy Wadge chords in the house. “I remember thinking to myself ‘we have to do something about this'”.

Ed Sheeran’s tube called into question was a great success. It ranked second on the Billboard Hot 100, the American reference chart, and won the Grammy Award for best song of the year in 2016. The hearing is due to resume on Monday, May 1.