Former Pharcyde producer/group member J-Swift has filed an $11 million law suit against Jive Records, Zomba Recording Corp., and Touchstone Pictures for uncredited use of his track “Passin’ Me By” in a remix of R&B vocalist Joe’s No. 1 single “Stutter.” The song was also featured on the soundtrack to the film “Double Take”
“People were coming up to me congratulating me, asking how much I was getting paid. I went into the store to see if I had been credited, and saw everyone’s name listed but mine,” J-Swift said in a statement. “They used my actual music. They even stole the lyrics and melody that I wrote.”
“Stutter,” which features rapper Mystikal, spent five weeks at No. 1 on The Billboard Hot 100. A Jive spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment on the lawsuit.
— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Specter marks the first time Joyce and Rourke have worked together since the Smith’s 1987 split, although the two did sue Smiths frontman Morrissey in the mid-’90s, claiming that he and guitarist Johnny Marr hoarded the Smiths’ royalties. In May 1999, the case was decided in Joyce’s favor (Rourke settled out of court), awarding him more than #1 million in back royalties.
Here are Specter’s tour dates:
May 26: New York (CBGB)
May 27: New York (Don Hill’s)
May 29: Washington, D.C. (Black Cat)
May 30: Boston (Milky Way)
May 31: New Haven, Conn. (Tune Inn)
— Todd Martens, L.A.

Van Zandt recorded the song in the early 1990s with a band called the Lost Boys, but never released the group’s completed album, “Nobody Loves and Leaves Alive.” According to a statement, “discussions are ongoing” regarding the album’s release.
Released on Tuesday, the two-disc “Sopranos” set features songs by the Pretenders, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, and the Rolling Stones, as well as dialogue from the show. Also included on the set is a mix of the Police’s “Every Breath You Take” and Henry Mancini’s “Theme From Peter Gunn” that leads off the first disc, as well as a track from Van Zandt’s E Street Band-mate Nils Lofgren, “Black Books.”
— Barry A. Jeckell, N.Y.