Alan Parsons worked with the Beatles and Pink Floyd before launching his own hitmaking band, the Alan Parsons Project. Now he’s hitting back at “unscrupulous scammers” who are impersonating him online.
“They’ve been gathering up streams, attention, and possibly even invitations to tea under my name,” Parsons wrote in a social media post. “These blatant infringements have nothing whatsoever to do with me.”
He added: “I have not released these songs, authorized these songs, hummed these songs, or even accidentally sat on a keyboard and come up with anything resembling these songs.”
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The Alan Parsons Project featured a rotating group of collaborators around Parsons and Eric Woolfson. They released seven consecutive Top 40 U.S. albums, beginning with 1976’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination. Four of those LPs also reached the U.K. Top 40. Their best-selling album was 1982’s platinum-certified Eye in the Sky, which included the Billboard Top 5 hit title-track.
Parsons earlier worked as an engineer or producer on the Beatles’ Abbey Road, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Paul McCartney‘s Red Rose Speedway, the self-titled debut from Ambrosia and Al Stewart’s Year of the Cat, among others.
“I spent most of my life finding my voice in the music industry – and I’d like to keep it human, thank you very much,” Parsons said. “I encourage everyone to double-check the source of the music they’re listening to and support real, walking, talking, crumpet-eating artists. We are still here – slightly wrinkled, perhaps, but gloriously human.”
Photo of Alan Parsons
Parsons joins a growing list of rock acts who’ve discovered fake songs under their own names, most notably Toto. Steve Lukather had to personally contact streamers to take down an instrumental titled “Name This Night” that was wrongly credited to his band.
“What a strange time we live in, when an imposter can write a tune, or have a toaster write it for him, slap my name on it as the artist, and then have a faceless algorithm give it life,” Parsons mused. “While I admire their efficiency, I do find it rather disappointing that scammers are now turning their robotic identities against musicians everywhere.”
READ MORE: Alan Parsons Project Hits the Big Time With ‘Eye in the Sky’
Spotify has since launched a campaign to remove “spammy” songs from its platform, reportedly targeting as many as 75 million tracks. Apparently, the fake Parsons song slipped through the cracks.
“This sort of thing is happening to a great many artists these days, and the corporate entities that run these online streaming and digital distribution services seem to just be turning a blind eye,” Parsons said. “This tomfoolery doesn’t just confuse listeners, it dilutes the talent of those artists, muddles their identity, and chips away at the integrity that takes years, or in my case, decades, to build.”
How Alan Parsons Reacted to Fake Songs
Woolfson died in 2009 after a bout with kidney cancer. Parsons later delved into the archives to release The Sicilian Defence, which became the Alan Parsons Project’s final album in 2014. His most recent solo release was 2022’s One Note Symphony: Live In Tel Aviv.
“I’m not angry; I save that for people who microwave fish at work. I’m just … spectacularly unimpressed,” Parsons concluded. “And my message to the scammers responsible for this outrageous scandal: I do hope your next software update installs a conscience.”
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Gallery Credit: Ryan Reed
