The late â70s girl group The Sequence is reportedly accusing Bruno Mars of sonically jacking one of their songs for his ridiculously popular hit âUptown Funk.â
According to TMZ, the song in question is Sequenceâs 1979 single, âFunk You Up.â A rep for the trio (which consisted of Angie Stone, Cheryl the Pearl and Blondy) thinks their song served as an influence for âUptown Funk,â which earned Bruno and producer Mark Ronson this yearâs Grammy for Record of the Year. Per TMZ:
The groupâs rep, Kali Bowyer, claims the hook to both songs are the same, and there are other similarities as well.
A lawsuit hasnât been filed. The Marvin Gaye familyâs winning lawsuit against Robin Thicke and Pharrell for âBlurred Linesâ has already set a precedent for song sampling gripes.
âThis is not and has not been an overnight issue, nor following the Grammy bandwagon party,â Bowyer tells VIBE. âThis fight did not just begin, the issues and paperwork date back going on close to two years, over the songs âUptown Funkâ and âFunk You Up,â and with the issue in respects to Bruno dates back to the actual release date of âUptown Funk.â
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