ROCK ‘N’ REELING
Iron Maiden pay Tyneside songwriter £100,000 to settle ‘stolen’ lyrics case and pay legal costs of £285,000
HEAVY metal rockers Iron Maden have paid a Tyneside musician £100,000 to settle a song lyric legal battle.
Songwriter Brian Quinn, who grew up in Whitley Bay, has settled a copyright claim with the band over their hit ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name.’
Mr Quinn had brought a suit against the band over claims some of the lyrics of the song were strikingly similar to lyrics he said he had written in a song called ‘Life’s Shadow.’
It was also claimed some elements of the music in Mr Quinn’s song had been used in a second Iron Maiden record, ‘The Nomad.’
‘Life’s Shadow’ was released as part of an LP by a band called Beckett in the 1970s. The song was written by Mr Quinn and a second musician, Bob Barton, also from Newcastle.
Iron Maiden said they had previously reached an agreement with Mr Barton over the song, who they believed to be the author of the lyrics in question.
The suit, brought with the help of former Lindisfarne manager Barry McKay, has now been settled out of court.
Under the terms of the settlement, Iron Maiden are free to use any part of Mr Quinn and Mr Barton’s song ‘Life’s Shadow’ within their hit record.
And it was confirmed that members of Iron Maiden hold full rights over ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ and ‘The Nomad.’
The agreement confirms that Mr Quinn and Mr Barton are joint owners of ‘Life’s Shadow.’
Meanwhile, on top of the £100,000 payment, Iron Maiden agreed to pay legal fees for Mr Quinn and Mr McKay totalling £285,000, alongside their own fees.
A spokesperson for Iron Maiden said: “We do not believe that Brian Quinn was the one who wrote these six lines in question over 40 years ago as was claimed by Barry McKay. “However, due to escalating legal fees and the potential huge costs of a court case it was pragmatic to reluctantly settle this action with McKay for £100,000, a fraction of what he brought the action for.” Mr McKay said: “The original claim was for £200,000, we’ve settled for half of that but Iron Maiden have had to pay huge legal fees - if they had settled for £200,000 they would have been better off. “I’m pleased we’ve got a settlement but I’m disappointed with the whole situation - I’m used to representing musicians but I’ve never had to bring a case against other musicians before. “All they had to do was credit theses two guys in the first place.”