The Vancouver Sun

Neal Hall, Sun Court Reporter Vancouver Sun

A legend in Canadian rock music testified Tuesday that while Darryl Neudorf wrote part of three songs on Sarah McLachlan's 1988 debut album Touch, he was adequately compensated for his work.

Bill Henderson, former leader of Vancouver rock bands Chilliwack and The Collectors, was accepted by the judge as a music expert.

Henderson used a graph to depict the elements of songwriting -- lyrics, melody, chords, bridge, verse and chorus.

Using the graph, he calculated that Neudorf wrote 16.8 per cent of the song Vox, 9.4 per cent of Steaming and 20.8 per cent of Sad Clown.

"It's obvious Neudorf wasn't peripherally involved in this project," Henderson, 53, told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen, who is hearing the civil case without a jury.

But Henderson, who has written 300 songs and is the former president of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), which administers song royalties, said Neudorf's main role working with McLachlan was as an arranger and producer.

Henderson, also a record producer, noted producers often add parts of songs to make a better recording and don't expect to get paid for songwriting because they are paid in "points."

Neudorf was paid one point -- one percentage of retail sales -- plus $3,385 in wages for his work on Touch, which Henderson concluded was adequate compensation and more than Neudorf would have received from songwriting royalties.

Neudorf, 34, a former drummer and songwriter with the Vancouver band 54-40, claims he co-wrote four songs -- Vox, Steaming, Strange World and Sad Clown -- on McLachlan's debut album. He also claims he co-produced Touch with Greg Reely.

He is seeking damages for unpaid royalties, claiming McLachlan and her Vancouver record company, Nettwerk, her manager Terry McBride and business partners Mark Jowett and Ric Arboit have been unjustly enriched by Neudorf's work, which helped launch McLachlan into international stardom.

Neudorf's lawyer, Jonathan Simkin, tried to have Henderson's report ruled inadmissible because Henderson's daughter, Camille, is a back-up singer for McLachlan and receives money from Nettwerk so the report should be considered biased.

The judge ruled Tuesday he would admit the report, noting he will give his reasons later.

Henderson then took the witness stand, interrupting McLachlan's testimony, because Henderson has a pressing appointment out of town.

McLachlan is expected to be cross-examined after Henderson completes his testimony today at the trial, now in its fourth week.

At issue is a three-month period in early 1988 when Neudorf was hired to help McLachlan develop songs after she was signed by Nettwerk to a five-record deal on Oct. 2, 1987.

At the time, McLachlan was 19 and had just moved to Vancouver from Halifax. She had never written a complete song before, but had been with the Halifax band October Game.

McLachlan testified Neudorf helped her write one song, Steaming, but she maintains she wrote the rest of the songs on Touch. Vancouver musician Darren Phillips was given credit on the album for co-writing two songs, Steaming and Uphill Battle, with McLachlan.

The defence is trying to prove that Neudorf was hired to do pre-production work before McLachlan entered a Vancouver recording studio in March 1998. Touch was released that September and was re-released in the U.S. in 1989 after McLachlan signed a licensing deal with Arista, a major American record label.

Touch has sold more than 625,000 copies worldwide. McLachlan's 1997 album, Surfacing, has sold more than five million copies and has won her a Grammy awards for best female songwriter.

She also founded the successful Lilith Fair tour of female recording artists, which took in more than $28 million US this year.