Usher’s “Bad Girl” song ends up in a bad situation, giving away 44 million dollars for the lyrics to the rightful owner of the original track that was titled “Club Girl.”
According to Rolling stone, Philadelphia songwriter Daniel Marino, filed a lawsuit over Usher’s “Bad Girl,” and he has been awarded $44.35 million following a court battle over the track.
William Guice wad a co-writer with Daniel Lorena. Guice did not credit Moreno for the original song, therefore he was ordered to pay $6.75 million in compensatory damages, along with $20.25 million in punitive damages last week at the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Destro Music Productions, which is owned by co-defendant Dante Barton, will also pay Marino $17.35 million, which brings the lawsuit’s total to $44.35 million. The Philadelphia Inquirer also reported that Marino now owns a third of the song’s ownership rights.
Moreno claimed to have been working on the song with his co writer in 2001 and 2002, but when it was picked up for Usher’s 2004 song album “Confessions” he was not listed as a writer. The lawsuit for this case began in 2011. Initially Usher was named in the lawsuit, however he was dropped.
Moreno had been fighting his case for the past 7 years. The “Confession ” album gave Usher a breakout in the music industry, selling over 10 million records, and received certified platinum diamond. Any lyricist writing for Usher on this album would have wanted to be listed. Unfortunately, they can not recall the albums and correct the print outs which were sold on CD’S at that time. However, Moreno’s attorney believed in him enough to fight for compensation.
Usher is currently worth 180 million dollars. The “Confession” album gave Usher the number two best selling album in the 2,000 era. Usher had not commented on the lawsuit, and probably was not aware of Moreno when the song was presented.
