Bob Dylan was sued by the wife of the late Jacques Levy, co-writer of several of the songs on the album ‘Desire’, and his publishing house also joined the lawsuit.
The wife and the publisher asked the singer for $ 7.25 million for the sale of his musical catalog to Universal Music, valued at $300 million.
The family’s claim indicates that Dylan must give them 35% of the royalties obtained for songs like ‘Hurricane’, ‘Isis’,’ Mozambique ‘,’ Oh, Sister, ‘Joey’ and ‘Romance in Durango and Black Diamond Bay’ , all belong to the album ‘Desire’ from 1976.
For his part, Orin Snyder, Dylan’s representatives have spoken out on the matter and, told Pitchfork, they have assured that the estate of Jacques Levy, who died in 2004, “have received all the money that is owed to them” and have crossed out this claim as “a sad attempt unfairly profiting from the recent catalog sale.”
“This lawsuit is a sad attempt to unfairly profit off of the recent catalog sale. The plaintiffs have been paid everything they are owed. We are confident that we will prevail. And when we do, we will hold plaintiffs and their counsel responsible for bringing this meritless case.”
The two met in 1974, they were in contact for a year until they collaborated to write ‘Isis’, after a period apart, they got back together to work on the rest of ‘Desire’. They finished the album in a span of three weeks in the Hamptons, New York. The production saw the light in January 1976 and had divided comments from the specialized press.