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Pink Floyd pupils sue for royalties
By Nigel Rosser, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 26.11.04A group of former pupils at a London comprehensive school are poised to win thousands of pounds in unpaid royalties for singing on Pink Floyd's classic Another Brick In The Wall 25 years ago.
The pupils from the 1979 fourthform music class at Islington Green School secretly recorded vocals after their teacher was approached by the band's management.
Now the 23 ex-pupils are suing for overdue session musician royalties, taking advantage of the Copyright Act 1997 to claim a percentage of the money from broadcasts.
Music teacher Alun Renshaw took the 13- to 14-year-old pupils out of lessons by to the nearby Britannia Recording Studios in Islington to record - without the head's permission.
With its chorus of "We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control, no dark sarcasm in the classroom - teachers leave them kids alone," the song was an anthem for teenagers. The album The Wall sold over 12 million copies.
Music royalties expert Peter Rowan said: "Some of the kids have put in a claim for royalties due to session musicians for recordings played on the
radio or broadcast since
1997. We are going through the process of claiming now."
Today, Mr Renshaw, 59, revealed how he hid the song's lyrics from the head. The Evening Standard tracked him down to his home outside Sydney, Australia, where he runs a vocational training course company.
He said: "I viewed it as an interesting sociological thing and also a wonderful opportunity for the kids to work in a live recording studio.
"We had a week where we practised around the piano at school, then we recorded it at the studios. I sort of mentioned it to the headteacher, but didn't give her a piece of paper with the lyrics on it."
When the song was released the Inner London Education Authority called it "scandalous".
Headteacher Margaret Maden banned the children from appearing on Top Of The Pops or in newspapers and refused to let the band make a video of them singing it.
Mr Renshaw, who emigrated shortly after the song reached No1, said: "Afterwards I looked at the words again and realised ... well! But the parents said it was great and the children loved doing it. Margaret was very good about it. She absorbed most of the politics and I didn't get too badly told off."
Islington Green's current headmaster, Trevor Averre-Beeson, has a platinum record of the song, and the school got a cheque for ?1,000. But Mr Renshaw said: "At the time we didn't think of it in terms of money, more of the experience."
Ms Maden, 62, now a professor at Keele, said: "Alun Renshaw was a seriously good if somewhat anarchic music teacher. I was only told about it after the event, which didn't please me. But on balance it was part of a very rich musical education."
Peter Thorpe, who sang on the single, told friends: "We were just taken to the studios and it was great fun. I didn't realise royalties were owed and I'm very glad to be in a position to claim them."
Reader views (1)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
Can't see how they can possibly justify a claim for royalties, they admit they had fun and was surely just another part of their education, others will have done the same in school play's etc. I and several other people sung a track for the film 'The wall'. The track was called 'Bring the boy's back home' was only four lines long and was filmed at Keithley Railway Station in Yorkshire. I was honoured to have been part of such a popular cult film, I was only 17 years old at the time and would not dream of cashing in with a claim for Royalties. what is this country coming to...
- Kevin Smith, Roos, East Yorkshire, England
