Michael Murphy heading for No 1... and court

By ALAN PERROTT

Will the first single for NZ Idol runner-up Michael Murphy reach number one before it lands him in an American court?

After a week in the shops, So Damn Beautiful has gone gold and could threaten the top spot when the charts are revealed on Wednesday. The track also ranked seventh on the RadioScope list of the most played new songs.

But in Texas, Vallejo, the band who co-wrote the track with Christian song-writer Chris Rodriguez are meeting lawyers to discuss legal action over royalty payments.

In 2002, the band wrote the track with Rodriguez, hoping to create a hit that would save their contract with music label Epic.

Unfortunately, their efforts didn't inspire the label and Vallejo eventually put the track out on a self-released album, Stereo.

None of this was apparently known to Michael Murphy, who lauded his single as an original release.

It was also unknown to his label BMG, which named Rodriguez as the sole author, until the song's history was uncovered by unofficial NZ Idol fansite Idolblog.com.

From Austin, Texas, band publicist Lisa Fawcett said they were dumbfounded to hear So Damn Beautiful had been recorded in New Zealand.

But they were more upset to learn Vallejo had not been given a co-writing credit, which would mean royalty payments for airplay and sales of the song.

"We didn't know anything about it until last Thursday," said Ms Fawcett. "I got an email from someone and we were just dumbfounded by the whole thing ...

"We definitely have a lot of people checking into different avenues because our part in that song is well-documented. We want to get it right."

Murphy's manager, Paul Ellis, said the dispute was created by a "small error".

"We didn't know they had a copyright on the song, but they will receive full payment. I'm just a little upset that the business issue has taken over a bit from the quality of Michael's song."

Ellis disputed claims Vallejo had been nominated for a Latin Grammy for So Damn Beautiful, and said they had been nominated in a band category instead. But the track features on Chris Rodriguez' website list of his Grammy nominated-compositions.