| Session
singer brings suit against Floyd
Clare Torry looking for compensation for "Dark Side" contribution
Session singer
Clare Torry, whose vocal stylings are a stand-out
on "The Great Gig in the Sky" from Pink
Floyd's "Dark Side of the
Moon" (1973), is suing the band and EMI Records.
The
Daily Express reports that Torry claims her
contribution to the song constitutes co-authorship, and she is suing
for damages that could be worth millions of dollars.
"If I’d
known then what I know now, I would have done something about organizing
copyright or publishing," Torry says in an interview soon-to-be-published
in a new book about "Dark Side." "I'd be a wealthy
woman now. The session fee in 1973 was £15, but as it was
Sunday I charged a double fee of £30 – which I invested
wisely of course!"
Torry says
she was instructed by the band to sing along to the musical track
without using words, and it was her approach to that challenge that
qualifies her as co-writer of the song.
"They
played me the track a couple of times and I said, 'The best thing
for me is to go out into the studio, put the headphones on and do
something,'" Torry adds. "They didn't know what they wanted.
I didn't know what they wanted."
The Sunday
night session lasted only a few hours, and, afterwards, Torry was
convinced the tape would be scrapped. "I honestly, truthfully,
never ever thought it would see the light of day," she recalls.
The Daily
Express also reports Torry is also requesting that "illicit"
copies of the song be destroyed. If successful, the suit could temporarily
halt production of the album, which has sold 43 million copies worldwide.
EMI had no
comment.
(Posted:
July 9, 2004)
©1995-2008 Random Precision
Media. All rights reserved.
Updated:
Oct. 8, 2005
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