Isaias Gamboa (music producer)

Isaias Gamboa
Born (1963-04-21) April 21, 1963 (age 61)
San Jose, Costa Rica
Notable workWe Shall Overcome: Sacred Song on the Devil's Tongue

Isaias Gamboa (born April 21, 1963) is an Afro-Costa Rican–American music producer, songwriter, musician, arranger, author and filmmaker. Gamboa is known for his lawsuit which revealed the origin of the protest song "We Shall Overcome".[1][2] After years of research, Gamboa published the book We Shall Overcome: Sacred Song On The Devil's Tongue in 2012,[3][unreliable source?] which described how "We Shall Overcome" was based on a gospel song by Louise Shropshire rather than other gospel songs as suggested by Pete Seeger who had it copyrighted to protect it from abuse.[4][5][6] Gamboa sued The Richmond Organization who claimed the rights to the song.[7][8] In 2018, the court removed any copyright claims, and stated that the song was public domain.[9][10][11][12]

Gamboa has written, performed, produced and/or arranged more than 200 songs for recording artists including, Shalamar, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Tavares, the Brothers Johnson, Dynasty, the Pointer Sisters, and five albums for the Temptations. In 1994 Gamboa produced the remix of "Pain" by Tupac Shakur for the film soundtrack Above the Rim.[13]

  1. ^ Blair, Elizabeth (April 13, 2016). "Who Owns 'We Shall Overcome'? All Of Us, A Lawsuit Claims". NPR. Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
  2. ^ David Holthaus. "Book: Cincinnati musician wrote 'We Shall Overcome'". Usatoday.com. Archived from the original on 2013-09-02. Retrieved 2013-09-11.
  3. ^ Neff, David. "The Religious Roots of Protest: How Justice Movements Have Coopted The Church's Music". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on 2015-03-20. Retrieved 2015-03-21.
  4. ^ Joel M Beall. "'We Shall Overcome' belongs to Cincinnati". Cincinnati Enquirer/Cincinnati.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
  5. ^ Kimberly Milhoan. "One Woman, Three Words: "We Shall Overcome"". ACLU press release). Archived from the original on 2015-02-26. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
  6. ^ Dawn Fuller. "UC Historical Collection Reveals the Songwriter Who United the Voice of the National Civil Rights Movement". University of Cincinnati press release). Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
  7. ^ "'Happy Birthday' Legal Team Turns Attention to 'We Shall Overcome'". Billboard. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  8. ^ "Judge throws out 57-year-old copyright on "We Shall Overcome"". Ars Technica. September 11, 2017. Archived from the original on September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  9. ^ Karr, Rick (September 11, 2017). "Federal Judge Rules First Verse Of 'We Shall Overcome' Public Domain". NPR. Archived from the original on September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  10. ^ Karr, Rick (January 27, 2018). "We ShallOvercome Ruled Public Domain in Copyright Settlement". NPR. Archived from the original on February 9, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  11. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (January 26, 2018). "US Civil Rights Anthem Now In Public Domain". REUTERS. Archived from the original on February 7, 2018. Retrieved February 8, 2018.
  12. ^ "Isaias Gambona: credits as producer, composer or arranger". ALLMUSIC.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-10. Retrieved 2015-02-15.