Plenty of musicians through the years have been bold enough to plagiarize or nab a song from their contemporaries in hopes that no one will clock the theft. However, few artists have been bold enough to plagiarize a song and give that stolen track the same title as the original one. According to a jury back in 1994 (as well as the Supreme Court), that’s precisely what Michael Bolton did with the song “Love Is A Wonderful Thing”. And the plagiarism case involving Michael Bolton and The Isley Brothers is still a record-holder of sorts today.
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If you’re a fan of pop music from the 1990s, you’ve probably heard Michael Bolton’s hit song “Love Is A Wonderful Thing” from 1991. It was a pretty big deal at the time. The track peaked at no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and ranking even higher in Canada. Unfortunately, the song ended up becoming Bolton’s most controversial song of his career, and it cost him a pretty penny.
The Plagiarism Case That Michael Bolton Lost and The Isley Brothers Won
In 1994, several years after the song was released, a jury found that Bolton’s “Love Is A Wonderful Thing” directly plagiarized the 1966 song of the same name by The Isley Brothers. The Isley Brothers were awarded a whopping $5.4 million in damages from Michael Bolton. It’s still considered the largest ever amount in damages awarded to an entity in a music plagiarism case.
The Isley Brothers’ tune is a classic today. However, it didn’t chart nearly as well as Bolton’s version and didn’t even hit the Hot 100 chart. It’s a gorgeous tune, complete with a killer saxophone solo.
There are some notable differences between the songs. Bolton’s version is much longer and more complex. However, the title and overall lyrical theme are almost identical. Those similarities were enough for a jury to side with The Isley Brothers.
Naturally, Michael Bolton was not happy. He appealed the case multiple times, reaching the Supreme Court in the process. He was shot down each time.
Bolton continued to insist that he never even heard The Isley Brothers’ song. That was a bit hard for the jury to buy, as Bolton has covered soul songs in the past. There is a chance this was a case of “unconscious plagiarism,” but we’ll likely never know the detailed truth.
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