Earl Van Dyke's Widow sues Motown over Funk Brothers' copyright

Widow sues label over Funk Brothers' copyright

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The widow of Motown's bandleader is suing the company's song publisher in a copyright dispute.

Funk Brothers pianist Earl Van Dyke wrote several tunes while he was with the Detroit label in the '60s. When he died in 1992, says the family's lawyer, copyrights for those compositions should have legally reverted to the Van Dyke family.

Instead, he says, publisher Jobete Music declared itself Van Dyke's agent and commandeered ownership.

Attorney Jeffrey Thennisch filed suit Friday in Detroit federal court on behalf of 82-year-old Millicent Van Dyke, accusing Jobete of fraud and copyright infringement for seven Earl Van Dyke songs.

"It's not just the taking in the sense of money," Thennisch told the Free Press' Brian McCollum. "It's taking from the family legacy."
Officials with Jobete parent company EMI Music could not be reached Friday.



 

Earl Van Dyke (July 8, 1930, Detroit, Michigan – September 18, 1992) was an African American musician, most notable as the main keyboardist for Motown Records' in-house Funk Brothers band during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Van Dyke was preceded as keyboardist and bandleader of the Funk Brothers by Joe Hunter. In the early 60's he also recorded as a jazz organist with saxophonists Fred Jackson and Ike Quebec for the Blue Note label.

Besides his work as the session keyboardist on popular Motown hits such as "Bernadette" by The Four Tops, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye, and "Run Away Child, Running Wild" by The Temptations, Van Dyke performed with a small band as an opening act for several Motown artists, and released instrumental singles and albums himself. Several of Van Dyke's recordings feature him playing keys over the original instrumental tracks for Motown hits; others are complete covers of Motown songs.

Van Dyke played the Steinway grand piano, the Hammond B-3 organ, the Wurlitzer electric piano, the Fender Rhodes, and the celeste and harpsichord. He played a toy piano for the intro of the Temptations' classic hit, "It's Growing." His musical influences included Tommy Flanagan, Hank Jones, and Barry Harris.

In September 1992, at the age of 62, Van Dyke died of prostate cancer at Harper Hospital in Detroit.