June 02, 2005Bowie sued
via Yahoo! Launch
Monday April 18, 2005
David Bowie is being sued for £5 million by the estate of Gus Dudgeon, the record producer who worked on his breakthrough 1969 single "Space Oddity".
Dudgeon, who died in a car crash three years ago, was one of his era's greatest producers - working on tracks such as Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual", Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By" and 11 albums by Elton John.
For his work on "Space Oddity", Dudgeon was allegedly paid a £250 advance against a promise of a 2 per cent cut of the sales.
Claiming that he had never received this, the producer had employed royalties' investigator David Morgan to begin legal action just before he and his wife Sheila were killed.
The couple, who had no children, left everything they owned to charity.
The Dudgeons' estate has now re-assigned Morgan to continue his work so that, if successful, extra money can be added to the charity funds.
Bowie is so far believed to be resisting the claim.
Speaking on Friday (April 15th), Mr Morgan said: "I was running the claim for him [Dudgeon] and we had opened a dialogue with Bowie and his representatives in New York.
"We had rather a lot of evidence of the money that we claim was owed to him. Apart from the huge sales of Bowie albums, the single has been on almost every compilation of top hits.
"I was with Gus the day before he died, and he seemed disappointed. He wanted Bowie to sort it out, and instead we got a letter of rejection from his representatives.
"I gave him my word that I would not give up..."
Morgan added: "Bowie sent flowers to [Dudgeon's] funeral, with the message: 'Farewell to the Laughing Gnome'.
"Gus was the other man laughing on Bowie's recording of the song [1967's "The Laughing Gnome"]."
Monday April 18, 2005
David Bowie is being sued for £5 million by the estate of Gus Dudgeon, the record producer who worked on his breakthrough 1969 single "Space Oddity".
Dudgeon, who died in a car crash three years ago, was one of his era's greatest producers - working on tracks such as Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual", Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By" and 11 albums by Elton John.
For his work on "Space Oddity", Dudgeon was allegedly paid a £250 advance against a promise of a 2 per cent cut of the sales.
Claiming that he had never received this, the producer had employed royalties' investigator David Morgan to begin legal action just before he and his wife Sheila were killed.
The couple, who had no children, left everything they owned to charity.
The Dudgeons' estate has now re-assigned Morgan to continue his work so that, if successful, extra money can be added to the charity funds.
Bowie is so far believed to be resisting the claim.
Speaking on Friday (April 15th), Mr Morgan said: "I was running the claim for him [Dudgeon] and we had opened a dialogue with Bowie and his representatives in New York.
"We had rather a lot of evidence of the money that we claim was owed to him. Apart from the huge sales of Bowie albums, the single has been on almost every compilation of top hits.
"I was with Gus the day before he died, and he seemed disappointed. He wanted Bowie to sort it out, and instead we got a letter of rejection from his representatives.
"I gave him my word that I would not give up..."
Morgan added: "Bowie sent flowers to [Dudgeon's] funeral, with the message: 'Farewell to the Laughing Gnome'.
"Gus was the other man laughing on Bowie's recording of the song [1967's "The Laughing Gnome"]."
