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Huey Lewis & Ray Parker Jr. Brawl Again Over 'Ghostbusters'
03/23/2001 6:00 PM, Yahoo! Music Gary Graff
(3/23/01, 6 p.m. ET) -- Huey Lewis and Ray Parker Jr. are duking it out in court again over comments Lewis made during a recent Behind The Music episode focusing on his band. Lewis sued Parker in 1984, claiming that the latter's theme for the movie Ghostbusters plagiarized Lewis's hit "I Want A New Drug." The suit was settled out of court, but part of the agreement was a confidentiality clause that restricted the parties from ever speaking about it publicly. The incident received several minutes on Behind The Music, with Lewis revealing that there was indeed a financial settlement with Parker.
Parker's suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims, "The fact that money was paid to resolve the underlying action was a private fact. Indeed, by contract, the parties to the settlement agreement agreed to maintain as private all facts concerning the manner in which the underlying action was resolved." Parker is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney's fees and court costs.
"Ghostbusters" was a Number One hit in June 1984, while "I Want A New Drug" reached Number Six on the Billboard Hot 100 six months earlier.
-- Gary Graff, Detroit
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