Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Agent Says Kids From 'Wall' Owed Royalties

Fri Nov 26, 2:31 PM ET
Entertainment - AP

LONDON - Members of the children's chorus who sang on Pink Floyd's anti-authoritarian 1979 hit "Another Brick in the Wall" are owed thousands in payment, a royalties agent said Friday.



Peter Rowan said he was representing one of the group, Peter Thorpe, in a bid for unpaid royalties. Rowan said he hoped other members of the group would join the claim for royalties from a fund set up to compensate session musicians.

Two dozen students from Islington Green School in north London sang on the chart-topping track from the album "The Wall," which was recorded at a nearby studio in 1979.

The song attracted controversy for the chorus sung by the children: "We don't need no education/We don't need no thought control/No dark sarcasm in the classroom/Teachers, leave them kids alone."

"It was seen as being quite improper, and I think it was raised in Parliament that children should have been used for this," said the school's current head teacher, Trevor Averre-Beeson.

"The Wall" has sold more than 23 million copies and is the third best-selling album of all time, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites).

The school received a platinum disc and 1,000 pounds in return for the children's efforts, but the pupils were not paid.

Rowan said the singers could claim money from a fund established in 1997 to give session musicians a percentage of royalties from broadcasts.

"It's a legal right and the money is building up," Rowan said.

"There's probably around 5,000 or 6,000 pounds there already, so they would get a few hundred each."