April 03, 2006 @ 12:32 pm

R. Kelly Sued by Belgium Composers for Allegedly Stealing Song

by: Mark Lelinwalla

left The Van Passel brothers - veteran authors, composers, music publishers and producers - originally composed “If We Can Start All Over,” which sounds eerily similar to what Kelly presented the King of Pop with. That’s why the brothers have filed a suit against Kelly, which is currently being held before the Court of Appeal in Brussels, Belgium. “If you play 'If We Can Start All Over,' for everybody, everybody will say it’s 'You Are Not Alone',” Danny Van Passel told Vibe.com via an exclusive phone interview. “It’s identical and I can’t say more than that, except it’s a protected copyright and you should get permission first before you use it and R. Kelly didn't ask for permission.” The Van Passel brothers are not alone in feeling they were robbed by Kelly. In Sept. 1995, the Belgian right society confirmed after close examination of both songs that the largest part of the melody of the 1995 song, “You Are Not Alone,” is identical to the 1993 Van Passel composition, “If We Can Start All Over.” “The best-case scenario will be for the law to say R. Kelly has no rights (to the song) and for all the rights, 100 percent of the rights to go to the original composers, which are us,” Danny Van Passel said. “Our songs are published in more than 100 countries, in more than 20 different languages. We’re in the business since 1978, so we’re professionals."

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