Sam Smith has revealed their regret at not responding to a letter Tom Petty sent them during the songwriting-credit dispute surrounding ‘Stay With Me’.
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The singer reflected on the controversy during a recent appearance on Alchemy With Anthony Mason, maintaining that they had never heard Petty’s ‘I Won’t Back Down’ before writing their 2014 breakthrough single.
Petty and Jeff Lynne were added as co-writers of ‘Stay With Me’ in 2015 after the publishers of the 1989 track contacted Smith’s team about similarities between the songs’ choruses.
Smith’s representatives described the resemblance as a “complete coincidence” at the time, with the parties ultimately reaching an amicable agreement.
Smith went on to reveal that Petty wrote to them shortly before the 2015 Grammy Awards, where they won four prizes, including Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year for ‘Stay With Me’.
They recalled Petty writing that there were “only so many notes on the piano”, which initially left them frustrated. “I was like, ‘You get it, so why is this happening?’” Smith explained.
Following news of the agreement in 2015, Petty released a statement insisting that he held “no hard feelings” towards Smith and considered the similarity a “musical accident”.
Petty died in October 2017 at the age of 66.
Smith, meanwhile, released their fifth studio album ‘Hazel Eyes’ earlier this month. The record was previewed by ‘My Guy’, ‘Oh Mother’ and ‘When He’s Gone’.
They will support the album with their ‘To Be Free’ UK residencies, beginning with two shows at Manchester’s Albert Hall on September 3 and 4. Smith will then perform at the London Coliseum between September 8 and 19.
Any remaining tickets can be found here.
Smith recently announced their engagement to fashion designer Christian Cowan, revealing that their relationship had inspired ‘Hazel Eyes’.
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