BELGIAN PRODUCER WINS COURT BATTLE OVER 1977 SONG
Music producer LOU DEPRIJCK has won a longrunning legal battle with bosse s at the AMC record label over the rights to his 2006 song CA PLANE POUR MOI.
Deprijck was accused of falsely marketing the release, a cover of Plast ic Bertrand’s punk track of the same name, as the "original voice" of the 1977 hit, which he also worked on.
A previous court ruling in 2006 had declared musician Plastic Bertrand was the "legal performer" of the song, and AMC executives took Deprijck t o court in a bid to block him from receiving royalties from the remake.
But a Belgian judge sided with Deprijck earlier this week (begs26Jul10) after a language expert studied the vocals from the 1977 and the 2006 tu nes to determine whether it was Bertrand or the producer’s voice used on the original.
The professional claimed it was the same voice on both songs, but insis ted Bertrand could not have performed it because the track’s singer had a distinct accent.
He told the court, "The way the phrases end on each record show that th e song could only have been sung by a Ch’ti - otherwise known as someone from the Picard region of France.
"It could therefore not have been Plastic Bertrand - who was born in Br ussels - and was surely Monsieur Deprijck." Deprijck was born in the French-speaking West Hainaut area of Belgium, but the place is sometimes referred to as Picard Walloonia because locals in the region speak with a Picard accent, the linguist explained.
Deprijck is "relieved" at the outcome of the court case, telling Le Par isien newspaper, "I hope I will finally get my rights."
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