Singer H.E.R. has reportedly been sued over her 2016 hit song “Focus.”
According to The Jasmine Brand on Tuesday (Feb. 9th), songwriter and pianist Andre Sims has filed lawsuit against H.E.R., the song’s co-producer Darhyl “DJ” Camper, co-writer Justin Love and Sony Music Entertainment. Sims claims that they allegedly sampled his song “Endless Minds” on “Focus” without compensating him.
Sims also noted in an interview that Camper reportedly credits “Endless Minds” as inspiration for H.E.R.’s song.
He continued, “I had hoped to avoid court and a heated public outcry, but after months of trying to get them to do the right thing, they left me with no other alternative and my fans want me to fight back for what is rightfully mine in this copyright to the song.”
Meanwhile, Sims said during an interview, “I’m on Instagram, I’m scrolling…and then it’s a guy that I follow – crazy piano player. He had did this – it’s like a little warmup he had. And I’m like, ‘Man, this is crazy!’ And it’s kind of similar to like the ‘Focus’ melody so I took that and it inspired me to play it like that, change it a little bit, put a beat, slow it down…BOOM!”
He’s suing for H.E.R., the writer and co-producer of her record for $3 million for copyright infringement and injunctive relief. Sims also wants the court to require the defendants to create a constructive trust to hold royalties as well as an accounting of all the song’s profits.