South African, Guys Hobbs is suing Elton John and Bernie Taupin for stealing his lyrics to Nikita.
Allegedly Hobbs wrote "Natasha" in 1982 about a star crossed relationship he had with a Russian gal who was waitressing on Russian cruise ship Hobbs had been working on when the Cold War was at its critical peak.
The lawsuit claims that after having written "Natasha", Hobbs copyrighted the song and spent time looking for a composer to write the music. In 1984 it is alleged that the song "Natasha " was sent to several big name publishing comapanies, one of which was Big Pig Music Ltd, who had ties to Elton John at the time.
In 2001 Hobbs came across the lyrics of Nikita in a song book and noticed the similarities with the lyrics he had written for " Natasha". Apparently Hobbs has engaged a musicologist to compare lyrics. His lawyer Daniel Voelker claims that the musicologist has stated that the two sets of lyrics were too similar to be considered a coincidence. However, as yet no examples of which lyrics bear similarity have been published.
Interestingly the lawsuit comes 26 years after the release of "Nikita", begging the question, what has taken Hobbs so long? Voelker ( Hobbs lawyer) has claimed that after a decade of trying to reach a settlement with John and Taupin and having been ignored , they finally decided to sue.
TMZ have published part of a statement released by a representative of John and Taupin, saying they "do not know the plaintiff, nor did they make use of any song lyrics he claims to have written when they wrote 'Nikita." The rep continues, "In short, the suit is completely meritless. The fact that Hobbs has chosen to wait more than 26 years after the release of "Nikita" to bring this lawsuit calls his motives into question. Sir Elton John and Mr. Taupin fully expect to prevail against this baseless claim."
