British pop star Adele has been dragged into the recent controversy between Australian singer-songwriter Daniel Merriweather and Celine Dion over Merriweather's claims Dion covered his song "Water And A Flame" — the title track of her forthcoming studio album — without acknowledging his input.
The Sydney Morning Herald today reports Merriweather addressed the issue again yesterday (July 4) on his Facebook page by wanting "to clear some things up."
"In hindsight, i was wrong to say that Celine 'stole' my song, from a songwriting point of view this is not the case at all..." Merriweather wrote. "and really was not the point i was trying to make... It turns out that she didn't realize that 'Water and a Flame' was my song from my album 'Love & War', instead she thought it was an Adele song. She should've just done her homework before she decided to cover my song... name her album after it... and then publicly imply credit to the featured act on the song (Adele).
"I get that Adele is a major artist and that the association helps her sell albums, but Adele is my friend; and she guested on my song, simple and plain, and that should've been acknowledged before Celine decided to rewrite history."
Adele appeared on the Merriweather version of the song, which was on his 2009 album "Love & War."
The controversy was brought to light in a June 30 Facebook post by Merriweather who said it was "astounding that Celine Dion tries to pass off lyrics that I wrote as her own..." before adding the "Water And A Flame" had "every ounce of my heart ache and pain in it and she pretends as if she wrote it her self...."
Dion's management responded to the accusations on Tuesday (July 2) on her official site. Management used the opportunity to address Dion's appearance on the Katie Couric show last April where a portion of the song was played.
"Despite the headlines that have emerged from Daniel's publicity, Celine certainly doesn't claim in any way whatsoever that she wrote the song," the statement reads. "While we can understand Daniel's disappointment by not having his name mentioned during Katie Couric's interview, it's rather unfair to Celine to be on the receiving end of the many disparaging comments that have now become public."
The statement also said Dion — who is releasing a new studio album this fall — often doesn't mention the songwriters in interviews and to be "accused of 'stealing' a song is not only grossly inaccurate, but also very hurtful."
As for Adele, the singer has made no comment regarding the controversy. A June 25 tweet revealed she had just met illusionist David Blaine who "did some magic for us." The singer added she "never seen anything like it! Blew my mind!"
