The Drama Behind Disney’s Lion King song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”
“Lion Sleeps Tonight” song that you know from Disney’s Lion King movie, was written (melody and chorus) by Soloman Linda of Johannesburg, South African in 1939, in the Gallo Studios under the name “Mbube”. The song made its way to the US and was re-recorded by a great many groups but then more and different verses were written to the song and recorded by a New York group “The Tokens” by George David Weiss..
The family of Linda was unaware of the songs success and that their father was responsible for the song. Then things got unimaginably crazy from there….
They managed to get with a team of lawyers to sue the American Publisher of the song – noting that the song made somewhere between 15 to 25 million the many years before Disney’s Lion King. Linda’s family and legal team sued Disney and after more than a decade of legal wrangling won their suit for an undisclosed amount plus future royalties but for a termed period of time.
Later when Linda’s family became suspicious they may have not received what they should have from the lawsuit or even a fair amount- they began to ask questions and investigate the issue through a family friend.. to this day they family continues to believe they have been taken advantage of a second time by their Meagan team and to this date the family continues to leave in the South African Slums of Soweto South Africa, having collected no more than $250,000. Dollars from their ventures…
