Bluebells court case press
(Evening Standard)
Musician wins plea to judge with a
serenade
By Harriet Arkell
A MUSICIAN who serenaded the judge with a violin from
the witness box today won a copyright battle over a
pop song entitling him to £100,000 in royalties. Bobby
Valentino said he was “absolutely delighted” with the
judge’s decision that he was joint author and copyright
owner of The Bluebells’ version of Young At Heart, which
topped the charts in the eighties and again in the Nineties
after it was used as the theme for a major TV advertising
campaign. Mr Valentino - real name Robert Beckingham
- claimed he was entitled to a share in the copyright
of the song and sued former Bluebells member Robert
Hodgens and former Bana-narama member Sioban Fahey,
the pair co-wrote the song originally recorded by Bananarama
in 1983. At the opening of the case at London’s High
Court last month Mr Valentino said he wrote the famous
violin riff for the Bluebells’ version of the song when
he worked as a session musician with the band in February
1984. Mr Valentino, 45 - once a member of the Fabulous
Poodles and the Hank Wangford Band - said he made a
sig-nificant and original contribution to the work and
therefore was entitled to a share of the copyright proceeds
of the recording re-released in 1993 following it’s
use as the background to a hugely successful Volkswagen
television campaign. To prove his point, he gave Deputy
Judge Christopher Floyd QC a live performance of parts
of the song in the courtroom, complete with violin,
acoustic guitar and amplifier.
The unusual testimony worked and today the judge upheld
Mr Valentino’s claim and said he was entitled to a share
of the royalties.
The musician, who also works as a model and Clark Gable
lookalike, said afterwards: “I’m absolutely delighted
with the outcome. It is probably fair to say this is
my biggest ever pay day, but I wish the case never had
to come this far:
“It was the oddest venue I’ve ever played in but I
thoroughly enjoyed it and the acoustics weren’t bad
at all.”
Universal Music/Anxious Music Ltd, Clive Banks Music
Ltd, Universal Music Publishing Ltd and London Records
90 Ltd were also defendants to the action but today’s
award was only against Mr Hodgens.
Mr Hodgens denied that Mr Valentino wrote the violin
part, and argued that the session player simply had
to play under the direction of a pre-existing musical
part of the song.
Alternatively he claimed that, even if Mr Valentino
did more than that, his composition was neither original
nor substantial enough to attract a share of the copyright.
Now Mr Valentino’s lawyers will be seeking details
from the recording companies of the sales of the 1993
version of Young At Heart to draw up a claim which will
be heard by a High Court official in a attempt to reach
agreement before any further court action. Mr Valentino
will be seeking about £100.000 in damages for the unpaid
royalties.
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