The Voice's Darren Percival Threatens Legal Action To Hide 'Sexual' Past

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.

''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.''

Lipworth said the song is "dripping with sexual innuendo".

''Now that he's found success - which I think he thoroughly deserves - and cultivated a nice-guy, family-man image, to sing in a song that's a got a real sexual aside to it is contrary to his image and he wants his name kept off it.''

The legal action reads, in part, "you are not entitled to use Darren's name in any manner whatsoever with respect to the audio recording of Slap & Tickle. If you fail to cease and desist, our legal people may pursue legal action."

Percival's management are yet to comment.

At time of writing, he is still credited as appearing on the song. Listen to it below: