Leona Lewis And Syco Accused Of Plagiarism
Leona Lewis is embroiled in a plagiarism row after a songwriter accused her label, Avicii, better known as Tim Berg.
His label, Ministry Of Sound, is said to be considering legal action against Simon Cowell’s label, but a spokesman for Syco has denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the DJ’s contribution has already been recognised. "Avicii is already credited as a songwriter on Leona's song," the rep said. "It's a case of sour grapes from Ministry Of Sound."
But the DJ said he had never been approached to give permission for Leona to use the song. He wrote on Twitter: "To answer everyone, the first time I heard Leona Lewis 'Collide' was today. I didn't produce it and neither me or my manager could approve it.
"I'm just upset for someone taking credit of our idea before I had a chance to release it… And for the time and effort that has been put into this by my manager and label."
His manager Ash Pournouri backed up the DJ’s assertions: "We never got to hear [Collide] before it was promoted on radio, how could we clear anything? We're not amateurs - we don't sign papers without knowing what [we're] getting into."
Collide is released on 4 September; [uuid=ebe596e2-ef98-4a08-a435-45c3d2e0930a]Leona's third album will follow in November[/uuid].