‘Idol’ Hicks, producer settle lawsuit

updated 3:22 p.m. ET Sept. 13, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Reigning “American Idol” Taylor Hicks has settled a lawsuit he brought against a Nashville producer over the rights to three songs he wrote and recorded before becoming a TV phenom.

Hicks gained possession of the master recordings of the songs under the deal, revealed Tuesday in documents filed in federal court in Hicks’ hometown of Birmingham. In exchange, Hicks agreed not to pursue further court action against producer William Smith, who recorded Hicks several years ago and recently placed some of the songs on the iTunes Web site for sale.

No money will change hands under the agreement, which an attorney for Hicks, Joe Leak, described as “amicable.”

“We were primarily just making sure that Taylor had the rights to the music,” said Leak.

Smith operates William Smith Productions and Baldwin Entertainment in Nashville, Tenn., and served as his own attorney.

Hicks filed suit earlier this month claiming Smith and his companies wrongly tried to profit from selling three songs that Hicks wrote and recorded with Smith — “The Fall,” “Son of a Carpenter,” and “In Your Time.” Hicks’ suit says the songs were recorded in 1997, but Smith said Hicks recorded them in June 2001.

Two of the songs were briefly up for sale on iTunes, but Smith and Leak agreed that few if any copies were sold before the songs were removed at Hicks’ request.

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