Ownership of “ Mbube,” “ Wimoweh” and “ The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was a tangled mess as Linda Solomon ( who had been illiterate) had initially signed over rights to Gallo, then his wife and daughters had twice done the same in the years following but eventually, a 1911 legal clause was used to revert copyright to Linda’s Estate after 25 years. In 2000, South African journalist Rian Malan wrote an exposé for Rolling Stones which exposed and shamed players in the music industry with the question what happened to about 15 Million in royalties and in 2002, director Francois Verster created an award-winning documentary tracing the long journey of “ Mbube” to “ The Lion Sleeps Tonight” titled A Lion’s Trail which further put a spotlight on the song and the lawsuit between Linda’s estate and Disney. He died in 1962 with not much in the bank even though locally in he was somewhat a legend.
The Linda family also claims damages against Nu Metro Home Entertainment, the David Gresham Entertainment Group and David Gresham Records, and is seeking an order to restrain the companies from continuing to use the song.Somewhere in all that Solomon Linda was forgotten and never quite getting Royalties from the ensuing success of what was essentially his melody and concept. Pretoria High Court judge Hekkie Daniels dismissed Disney’s urgent application to cancel a court order that 240 of its trademarks in South Africa, including Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, be sold to collect damage money. 7, Disney lost a bid in the Pretoria High Court to set aside the lawsuit, paving the way for lawyers repping Linda’s estate to continue with the royalties infringement claim. When Linda died in 1962, he had less than $25 to his name, and his still-impoverished family, which lives in Soweto, is suing Walt Disney Corp. The song has been adapted and recorded by more than 150 artists, translated into several languages and featured in many stage musicals and films, most notably Disney’s 1994 blockbuster pic “The Lion King.”
Wimoweh weavers full#
Once the deal is signed, Linda’s heirs will receive the full amount, estimated at 20,000 rands ($3,125) a year. But these payments did not amount to the full composer’s royalties due, Dean said. Since then, his family has been receiving royalty payments of 12.5% of “Wimoweh’s” overall earnings. In 1971, the company acknowledged the song was based on Linda’s original work. Dean said TRO thought the tune was a traditional Zulu folk song, its author unknown, so it paid royalties to the Weavers.
Howie Richmond, TRO’s founder, signed folk group the Weavers to record a version of “Wimoweh” around 1951 that rose to No. Folk singer Pete Seeger came across the song in 1949, transcribed it and called it “Wimoweh,” from the Zulu “uyiMbube,” which means “he is a lion.” Linda was a poor Zulu migrant worker and local black township musician who composed the song in Johannesburg in 1939 and recorded it with a group called the Evening Birds.