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Legal action looming over Darren Percival track

Management for Darren Percival may pursue legal action over the release of a cheeky hip-hop song "dripping in sexual innuendo."

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An independent hip-hop song recorded in February is at the centre of legal threats from the management of The Voice, runner-up Darren Percival and musician David Lipworth.

The Age reports Lipworth paid Percival $400 to sing the chorus and ad libs on the track, Slap & Tickle, shortly before his audition on the Nine show.  Described as ”dripping with sexual innuendo,” the lyrics include lines about ”slapping a little more meat in your bun.”

When Lipworth told Percival’s management he was to release it on iTunes and YouTube, management wrote back saying “… you are not entitled to use Darren’s name in any manner whatsoever with respect to the audio recording of Slap & Tickle. If you fail to cease and desist, our legal people may pursue legal action.”

Lipworth said, ”Now that he’s found success – which I think he thoroughly deserves – and cultivated a nice-guy, family-man image, to sing in a song that’s a got a real sexual aside to it is contrary to his image and he wants his name kept off it.”

The clip is already on YouTube.

3 Responses

  1. My goodness, what an awful cheesy track. If you listen, I’d say Channel 7 also have a case to sue this guy over the opening to this song. Sounds very similar to the Channel 7 Sports theme to me!

  2. I don’t think there’s a case here. It would appear that Percival agreed to perform on the track and that is a contract. The fact that The Voice prob has him on some sort of contact for the next few months doesn’t count and nor does the fact that he/they would now prob charge more than $400 for the same thing given his current profile.

    Unless I’m missing something, Lipworth owns the song and has every right to sell it as he sees fit.

    Presumably one of the intentions of Percival’s management was too limit any potential damage to his “brand”. They obviously don’t understand how things work these days. Threatening to get heavy with lawyers is pretty much guaranteed to have the exact opposite effect, and by an order of several magnitudes.

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