Veteran singer Yusuf has reached out to Coldplay - just weeks after he accused them of stealing one of his melodies to use in their hit track Viva La Vida. The star - formerly known as Cat Stevens - claims the band lifted elements of his epic 18 minute song Foreigner Suite, which was released in 1973, and incorporated them into their 2008 single.
His claims came after guitarist Joe Satriani took legal action over the song - accusing Coldplay of copying segments from his 2004 instrumental If I Could Fly. Coldplay have denied Satriani's plagiarism accusations, insisting they thought up the tune themselves.
But Islam insists he won't be following Satriani's lead and pursuing the matter through the courts - and he wants to make peace with the Grammy Award winning rockers. He says, "I stand by what I said. They did copy my song but I don't think they did it on purpose. I have even copied myself without even knowing I have done it. I'll write down what I think is a good melody and realise it's the same as something I have already done. I don't want them to think I am angry with them. I'd love to sit down and have a cup of tea with them and let them know it's okay."
Speaking recently over the plagiarism claims of Yusuf and of the pending court case with Joe Satriani, Coldplay's Will Champion has insisted that the band are innocent, telling Hamptonroads.com that the band "haven't done anything wrong".
He said: "It's tough when people accuse you of stealing something when you know that you didn't. We accept that it's part of the territory and know it is only for some reason the successful songs that seem to be the ones that are accused of being stolen. So you go figure it out."
Will added that he believed some kind of musical crossover between artists was inevitable. "There are elements of our music that I've heard in other people's music," he said, "but a very difficult thing to define. There are only eight notes in an octave and no-one owns them. There are probably about 12,000 songs that feature the exact same chord progression. I think it [plagiarism] lies on an intent to steal, which we certainly have never done and never would. It's unfortunate but it's the way people are. That's that. We're confident we haven't done anything wrong."
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