The Gap Band Heirs Suing BMG for ‘Uptown Funk’ Royalties

*The Gap Band heirs are suing BMG for royalties related to the hit song “Uptown Funk” from Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars.

The estates of Gap Band members Ronnie Wilson and Robert Wilson are taking legal action over royalties owed from the 2014 track that incorporates of band’s 1979’s “Oops Upside Your Head,” Digital Music News reports. The Gap Band’s vocalist Charles Wilson isn’t a plaintiff in the suit. 

The Wilson brothers co-wrote the song with Rudy Taylor and Lonnie Simmons and following a separate legal battle, they were added as co-writers on “Uptown Funk.”

The families of Ronnie and Robert alleged that BMG has not been paying them what they are entitled to. 

READ MORE: Lonnie Simmons: The Man who Discovered the Gap Band Has Died

“Despite its obligations to account for and pay to plaintiffs their share of all income received from the ‘Uptown Funk’ musical composition, BMG has refused and failed to provide either the funds due to plaintiffs or an accounting despite plaintiffs’ repeated demands,” the lawsuit states.

“BMG has refused and failed to provide either the funds due to Plaintiffs or an accounting despite Plaintiffs’ repeated demands therefor,” the legal text claims, adding that BMG has held on to outstanding royalty payments “for its own benefit and enjoyment and/or wrongfully diverted such funds.”

The heirs of Robert and Ronnie Wilson want the missing payments (as well as nine percent interest) and legal fees.

Ronson and Mars are not implicated in the lawsuit.

In a statement to Billboard, the Wilsons’ lawyer, Michael Steger, said they’ve been “working for years” to receive proper credit and royalties for the song’s usage and are “left with no choice but to pursue litigation to protect their rights.”

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