Missy Elliot has reached a settlement with a music producer who claims to have co-written a number of of her songs from the Nineteen Nineties, resolving the almost seven-year-old dispute simply as a trial was about to start.
Law360 and Courthouse Information Service each reported on Friday (Aug. 22) that Elliott’s attorneys and Terry Williams, who’s representing himself, arrived at a settlement in a Philadelphia federal courtroom simply minutes earlier than they had been set to begin deciding on a jury for his or her copyright trial.
Particulars of the settlement weren’t instantly obtainable, and neither Elliott’s attorneys nor Williams returned Billboard’s request for touch upon Friday.
The lawsuit, which has been making its manner by way of the courtroom system since 2018, facilities on the R&B woman group Sista, the place Elliott acquired her begin earlier than breaking out as a solo artist within the late ’90s.
Williams, a music producer who as soon as owned a Philadelphia recording studio, claims he and Elliott co-wrote 4 songs off Sista’s 1994 album 4 All of the Sistas Round da World: “Sweat You Down,” “Secret Admirer,” “I Wanna Know” and “I Wanna Be with U.” He alleged that Elliott unfairly left him off the songwriting credit, and was in search of by way of the lawsuit to get royalties relationship again to the 1994 album launch.
Elliott, in the meantime, maintained all through the case that Williams “didn’t write a single lyric or in any method contribute to any of the songs” off 4 All of the Sistas Round da World. Elliott mentioned she didn’t even meet Williams till after she’d delivered the album to Elektra Information.
Decide Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro dominated final yr that as a result of these conflicting narratives, the lawsuit might solely be resolved by a jury weighing the proof and deciding who to consider. However the choose threw out an extra declare from Williams that alleged he and Elliott additionally co-wrote the 1996 Aaliyah tune “Heartbroken,” saying this a part of the case was barred by the statute of limitations.
Williams’ lawsuit additionally focused Timbaland, who produced 4 All of the Sistas Round da World, in addition to Elektra, Atlantic Information, Warner Music Group and Reservoir Media. These claims had been all paused till the result of the Elliott trial, and so they nonetheless stay pending.
