Robbie Williams released his song Angels, which reached number four in the UK charts, back in 1999 and it’s now been reported that he could face legal action from a songwriter
Robbie Williams is set to face a legal battle. A songwriter who claims that he wrote the original version of Angels is said to be preparing to sue the iconic star for future royalties from the song. Ray Heffernan is reportedly aiming to use new legislation in a potential case.
Robbie, 51, released Angels as a single in 1997, after going solo following his departure from Take That. It reached number four on the UK Singles Chart at the time and has since been described as a “huge commercial success”.
Ray has previously said that he worked on the song with him. Robbie has however said that, after an initial demo, he made the “fully formed version” of Angels with his songwriting partner Guy Chambers, who is credited with Robbie on the track.
It’s now been reported that Ray, who reportedly sold the rights for £7,500 years ago, is preparing to sue Robbie for around a third of the future royalties. According to reports, Ray believes that a 33 per cent share would be suitable compensation and plans to bring the case in the UK and Germany.
Ray told The Irish Independent that legal experts contacted him to tell him that a new EU copyright law, the ‘bestseller clause,’ could mean he receives a share of the royalties. The ‘bestseller clause’ is said to accommodate retrospective compensation for writers.
As reported by the outlet, it states that writers may claim additional remuneration in certain circumstances. It’s said to state that an author “may claim additional, appropriate and fair remuneration from the party with whom he or she entered into a contract” when a court rules “the remuneration originally agreed turns out to be disproportionately low compared to all the subsequent relevant revenues derived from the exploitation of the work or performance”.
Ray is said to have met Robbie in Dublin in 1996. He went on to invite the former boyband member to his mum’s house to write together and it’s been claimed that he played Robbie a song that he’d been working on about a partner’s miscarriage during a session.
He is quoted as having once told the Mirror: “I played Robbie a song called Angels, which I had written the week before to try and make some sense of what happened.” Ray was said to have then given Robbie permission to work on the song back in London.
Ray’s later said to have accepted an offer from Robbie’s management to buy the rights for £7,500. Ray told the Irish Independent: “They initially offered £2,500 to relinquish the rights. When I asked to be credited on the record, they raised it to £7,500. With the promise my name would be attached, I accepted the deal. Then – boom – the song took off.”
Robbie reportedly gave Ray a credit on the cover sleeve. In 1999, his then-manager, David Enthoven, is quoted as having said: “They got together two or three years ago and wrote a couple of songs together, one of which was Angels.”
Brit Award winner Robbie, who has reportedly never confirmed co-authorship, spoke about the song the True Geordie podcast in 2017. He said that he had recorded a demo in Ireland with someone else, believed to be Ray.
Robbie, however, said that he later made the “fully formed version” of the song with Guy Chambers. He suggested that there wasn’t a chorus when he worked on the original version with Ray.
A representative for Robbie declined to comment when approached by the Mirror.
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