"We Don't Need No Copyright Lawyers..."

I always wondered - who were the kids who sang on the chorus of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In The Wall", the megahit single from 1979's The Wall (which remains the only Pink Floyd album that should not be used as mulch).

Today, we find out not only who they were, but that they're finally going to get paid.

They were a bunch of London-area fourth graders...:

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.

...with a cool teacher...

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.

...and a principal straight out of central casting...

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...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."

I smell a quirky British low-budget indie film starring John Postlethwaite!

Posted by Mitch at November 26, 2004 01:13 PM | TrackBack