Robert "Kool" Bell – of iconic funk band Kool & the Gang – has spoken out against Robin Thicke and Pharrell in the ongoing Blurred Lines plagiarism saga.
And to make matters more dicey, Bell’s comments come just days before he prepares to follow Thicke onto the stage at Dubai’s Blended festival on Friday May 1.
Thicke and co-author Pharrell were ordered to pay Marvin Gaye's estate $7.3 million [Dh27 million] in royalties last month after a jury ruled the pair plagiarised Gaye's 1977 funk staple Got to Give It Up. "I think that was the right decision," said bassist Bell.
Lawyers for Thicke and Pharrell have announced plans to appeal the court's decision. It emerged earlier in the case that both artists had banked $5 million each from Blurred Lines, which was the biggest song of 2013 selling more than 14.8 million downloads.
But, speaking exclusively to The National, 64-year-old Kool had little sympathy for Thicke.
“It’s kind of hard to get around that one,” he said. “I mean it was so close – the melody is slightly different, but the groove, the whole vibe – I don’t see how they could not say that was Marvin Gaye.
“When I first heard the record I thought ‘wow that’s so close to Marvin Gaye, at some point they’re going to have problems’ – and they did.”
Kool & the Gang will perform directly after Thicke to close the two-day Blended festival, Dubai Media City Amphitheatre on Friday May 1.
It remains to seen if Thicke will perform Blurred Lines, who has not performed live since the ruling.
When we spoke to Bell, he seemed surprise to hear his outfit was headlining over Thicke.
“That’s going to be a hot number right there,” he said, when asked about the pairing.
“Does Robin close the show? We do? So we close the whole thing?
“We’re very excited about that, it’s been a while since we played an outdoor concert [in the UAE].”
Kool & the Gang's back catalogue has been plundered extensively, such as 1974's Summer Madness, which was sampled by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince for 1991 single Summertime – and for which they were paid royalties.
Celebrating 50 years as a band in 2014, Kool & the Gang’s last public gig in the UAE was at the Dubai Jazz Festival in 2009.
• Day tickets for Blended start at Dh395, or Dh650 for a weekend pass. See blended.ae for more.
Read our full interview with Kool, plus interviews with headliners Kasabian and Craig David, in The National on Wednesday April 29.
