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Madonna Accused of Song-Napping
05/24/2005 4:08 PM, E! Online
Josh Grossberg
A European songwriter is looking to freeze Madonna out of some cold
cash.
Belgian composer Salvatore Acquaviva is suing the
Material Mommy, accusing her of ripping off parts of his song for her
1998 worldwide hit "Frozen" off the multiplatinum-selling album Ray
of Light.
The suit, filed in the city of Mons, claimed
Madonna's minor-key ditty plagiarized several bars of his track "Ma Vie
Fout L'camp (My Life's Getting Nowhere)", written five years before.
"I was in the bath. I was listening to the radio, and thought
that's strange, I know that melody. I said it's not possible," the
European tunesmith told Belgium's RTL TV.
During a hearing
last Wednesday, attorneys for Acquaviva alleged the pop diva may have
heard his song after meeting with his producer. Madonna's local lawyers
fired back, arguing that Acquaviva was simply looking to get money out
of the singer.
"Just because there are similarities between
two songs it doesn't mean it has been plagiarized," attorney Fabienne
Brison told RTL. "There are certain artists who hear songs on the radio,
see that they are very successful and say to themselves, 'Why shouldn't
I try it on?' "
In any case, the local court has frozen the
royalties for "Frozen" until the dispute is settled. That could be
awhile, as the judge recently postponed hearings on the case until next
month.
Madonna's rep, Liz Rosenberg, declined to comment on
the case.
Suing the singer has been in vogue for some time.
A year ago, she settled another copyright-infringement suit,
paying an undisclosed amount to the son of late French erotic
photographer Guy Bourdin. The lensman's offspring claimed Madonna
plagiarized several of Bourdin's images for her video for "Hollywood," a
cut off her 2003 album, American Life.
Aside from
battling plagiarism litigation, Madonna was one of several defendants
named in a sexual harassment and wrongful termination suit in March by
a former employee of her Maverick Films company.
Not that the
Artist Otherwise Known as Esther has let such nuisances bother her.
Although American Life is long gone from the charts, her
re-Invention Tour has wrapped and her contract as the face of Versace is
up (she was succeeded this week by Demi Moore), Madonna is still
desperately seeking publicity.
She and her director husband
Guy Ritchie caused a commotion among conservative Catholics earlier this
year when they turned up at a bash celebrating the Jewish holiday of
Purim dressed as a nun and pope, respectively.
And Monday
night, she and Ritchie traipsed the red carpet for the London premiere
of Sin City.
For her next trick, she'll join David Bowie and Snoop Dogg in the voice case of director Luc Besson's
computer-generated children's tale, Arthur and the Minimoys, due
to hit theaters in 2006. She's also planning on doing a movie version of
one of her best-selling children's books, The English Roses.
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