The Stolen Song That Cost Michael Bolton $5 Million

In 1991, soft rock singer Michael Bolton hit the Billboard Hot 100 Top 5 with the peppy "Love Is a Wonderful Thing." A court later ruled he stole the song from other artists. After about a decade of legal maneuverings, Bolton and his songwriter and corporate associates had to pay out a sizable fortune — over $5 million in damages — to The Isley Brothers. 

The Isley Brothers is a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-recognized soul group that was most explosively active and influential in the 1960s, and Bolton's "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" allegedly bore striking and subtle similarities to one of the band's song. The name of that track, believe it or not: "Love Is a Wonderful Thing." What seemed like an open-and-shut case was actually very nuanced, and it kept Bolton in and out of lawyers' offices for years. Here's the saga of "Love is a Wonderful Thing," the song that cost Michael Bolton millions of dollars and landed him in the company of musicians accused of stealing their biggest hits.

In 1966, The Isley Brothers, many years into a career as a major soul act that included hits like "Twist and Shout," "This Old Heart of Mine," and "Shout" (a classic banger that will give boomers instant party flashbacks), unleashed "Love Is a Wonderful Thing." Recorded about two years earlier, the standalone single was decidedly unpopular and didn't even make it onto Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart. It languished in obscurity until EMI Records included the little-known song on the collection "The Complete UA Sessions," released in late March 1991.

That's only a few weeks before Michael Bolton's "Time, Love & Tenderness" arrived in stores in April 1991. Bolton's previous album, "Soul Provider," was a blockbuster, selling 6 million copies. To prepare fans for another collection of soul music shoved through a soft rock filter, Columbia Records selected "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" as the first single. Rising to No. 4 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart, it was a totally different song from the identically titled one by The Isley Brothers that had recently resurfaced — or, according to some parties, maybe not.

During the initial popularity of Michael Bolton's "Love Is a Wonderful Thing," Isley Brothers singer Ronald Isley heard the song on the radio. He liked it, if only because it reminded him of his group's forgotten song of the same name. Parts of the track seemed so familiar to Isley that he claims he initially figured Bolton had arranged to interpolate the 1966 release into the 1991 smash hit and had paid the requisite licensing fee to do so. "I was really pleased," Isley told Billboard. "Then I went out to pick up the record and looked for my credit. I was upset because the credits weren't on there."

That's about when Isley called his lawyers. On behalf of his bandmates and their company, Three Boys Music Corp., Isley sued Bolton, co-songwriter Andy Goldmark, Sony Music Entertainment (owner of Bolton's label, Columbia Records), and various other music publishing entities. Isley alleged copyright infringement, attesting that Bolton's "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" liberally swiped from The Isley Brothers' "Love Is a Wonderful Thing."

Initially filed in early 1992 as a private, unpublicized matter, news of the suit broke in June of that year. Isley was irritated that the contested song had won Bolton and Goldmark a couple of music industry awards, and he wanted the pair to give back their honors as well as pay up. "He added some words, but it's the same hook, the same melody," Isley told Billboard.

Once a hard rock singer, Michael Bolton rebranded himself in the late 1980s as a soul singer influenced by mid-century acts. He went so far as to call one of his albums "Soul Provider" and released a whole LP of '60s soul covers. But his professed appreciation for soul and R&B oldies contrasted with his asserted ignorance of The Isley Brothers' "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" when he faced the plagiarism lawsuit.

When the litigation was first reported in the summer of 1992, Bolton's manager, Louis Levin, defended his client via a press release. "The song is an original song," he wrote (via Billboard). "We view the claim to be without merit and are vigorously defending the matter." Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers wasn't moved. "I'm totally shocked that he went this far in claiming that song as his own," he told Billboard. "I have met him before, I like his singing, but because of this I have lost all respect for him." Usually, copyright infringement and plagiarism cases quickly go away after filing — they're either dismissed by a judge or the parties reach an out-of-court settlement. Bolton and company so believed in their innocence that they were willing to take the suit all the way to trial.

Courtroom proceedings concerning The Isley Brothers and Three Boys Music Corp.'s infringement case against Michael Bolton began in 1994. It fell upon the plaintiffs to prove that Bolton and his cohort had lifted and used trademarked material in "Love Is a Wonderful Thing." Lawyers argued that Bolton, as a soul-loving teenager in the mid-1960s, could very well have absorbed The Isley Brothers' "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" from hearing it on the radio and subconsciously, non-maliciously taken parts of it when crafting the newer song. Testimony also revealed that Bolton and co-writer Andy Goldmark posited during the songwriting process that their song didn't feel 100% original.

The Isley Brothers' lawyers called in a musicologist to inform the court of the deep similarities between the two songs. The expert testified that the latter "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" shared not only a title with the earlier "Love Is a Wonderful Thing," but also, according to the lawsuit (via UC Berkeley School of Law): "The title hook phrase, shifted cadence, instrumental figures, verse/chorus relationship, and fade ending." Having provided evidence of Bolton having "reasonable access" to the original song and showing the specific ways he'd allegedly copied it, The Isley Brothers and its legal team received a victory in court. From a legal perspective, Bolton and Goldmark had stolen "Love Is a Wonderful Thing."

After finding Michael Bolton, Andy Goldmark, and Sony Music Entertainment at fault for stealing parts of The Isley Brothers' '"Love is a Wonderful Thing," the jury had to determine how much the original artists had been hurt financially and how much Bolton and the others were responsible for paying out. After examining the sales figures of "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" and the Bolton album from which it came, "Time, Love & Tenderness," jurors pinpointed exactly what portion of the song was built from pilfered parts. They determined that 66% of the profits were derived from stolen elements. And because the single was designed to drive sales of the LP, 28% of the "Time, Love & Tenderness" proceeds were calculated to have come from The Isley Brothers' uncredited work. The total amount of the judgment for the plaintiff: $5.4 million.

Bolton's team immediately filed a protest of the judgment. It would find its way to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2000 agreed with, or upheld, the previous decision. Bolton's side appealed that, too, and sent it to the U.S. Supreme Court. After the highest court in the country declined to hear the case, Bolton was out of legal options. The Isley Brothers were to be paid more than $5 million. Of that figure, Sony owed $4.2 million, Goldmark about $221,000, and Bolton nearly $933,000 — plus $75,900 from the singer's publishing company.