Percival doesn't like the old Slap & Tickle any more.
Darren Percival, singer and recent contestant on The Voice, has threatened an indie musician with legal action over a track that Percival featured on just before the show started to air.
David Lipworth paid Percival $400 to sing the chorus of his track Slap & Tickle in August, reports the Brisbane Times. Recorded just days before Percival auditioned for the ratings-juggernaut The Voice, Lipworth recently sent the song - which is intended to "poke a bit of fun at the whole hip-hop chauvinistic genre in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way" - to Percival's management.
Apparently deciding that the track damages the family-friendly image that Percival attained on the show, his management threatened Lipworth legal action if he released the track on iTunes and YouTube with Percival credited.
'I replied saying I didn't think they had any right to prevent me from naming Darren but I'd be happy to discuss it more,'' said Lipworth. ''Then I got an email [on Thursday] morning saying that if I didn't cease and desist from naming Darren they reserved the right to bring legal action against me without further notice.
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''I thought, 'What the hell?' Now that he's cultivating this 'Mr good-guy, family-man' image, he's threatening to bring legal action against me.''