Mariah Carey faces lawsuit over 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'

Singer Mariah Carey is being sued over the Christmas ear worm, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” by a songwriter who claims to have infringed the copyright of his song of the same title, which was released five years before its success in 1994.

Andy Stone, whose stage name is It’s Vince Vance, part of the band Vince Vance & the Valiants, who filed a lawsuit against Carey, 53, Friday in federal court in New Orleans. He is seeking damages of at least $20 million and alleges copyright infringement and unjust enrichment, among other claims.

Carey was named in the lawsuit with co-writer Walter Afanasyev and music company Sony.

Court documents describe Vance as a self-employed artist who in 1989 co-wrote a song called “All I Want for Christmas Is You” and recorded it at a studio in Nashville. It was later released and “received heavy airplay during the 1993 Christmas season…began to appear on the Billboard music charts.”

Carrie’s song has the same name but is not identical lyrics and music, in 1994 on her album “Merry Christmas”. The lawsuit asserts that Carey and the other defendants “did not seek or obtain permission” from Vance to use, reproduce, or distribute the song and accuses them of infringing his copyrights.

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Carey has not commented publicly on the lawsuit. Sony Music did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Saturday.

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Carrie’s song has become a Christmas classic and a staple on holiday charts every year, making it unclear why the lawsuit is only being filed now.

Copyright does not generally extend to song titles alone, with dozens of entries recorded About “All I Want for Christmas Is You” at the US Copyright Office as of Saturday.

Court documents say Vance’s attorneys initially made contact with Carey and others in April 2021 and followed up with a letter in December. “Even after informing the defendants of the concerns, the plaintiff was unable to reach any agreement on the use of All I Want for Christmas is You,” the lawsuit said.

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Carey, known for his hits such as “Fantasy” and “Hero,” was inducted into this year’s Songwriters Hall of Fame, which website She described her part as an “elite group of songwriters” and said that she “wrote or co-wrote 18 out of 19 number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100”.

She achieved her first song in the United States with the song “Vision of Love” in 1990 and went on to win 5 Grams Awards, 3 Guinness World Records Addresses And the Ivor Novello She won an award for her outstanding 5-octave style, which earned her international stardom for her musical performances.

Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is still hugely popular, streaming over a billion times on the music service. spotify For some, an unofficial announcement of the start of the Christmas season. But others say it has become overrated and annoying, with only one bar in Texas last year ban Play the song before December 1 and after that only allow it to play “once a night.”