Mariah Carey Faces New Lawsuit For 'All I Want For Christmas' To The Tune of $20 Million

Mariah Carey
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Maroon Ent

Mariah Carey is facing a lawsuit, yet again, from two writers who allege her 1994 classic song is a copy of one they wrote in 1989.

According to TMZ's coverage of the court filing, Troy Powers and Andy Stone claim there are substantial similarities between the two tracks in both their musical composition and their lyrics.

Last year, Mariah faced a lawsuit, simply referred by Andy alone, who was claiming $20 million in damages due to infringement of copyright laws.

Having laid dormant for some time, Troy and Andy recently joined forces to launch a legal action against the Grammy award-winning singer.

The lawsuit demands an amount of $20 million due to the claim that there is a striking resemblance between the melody, lyrical hook, and tone of both songs.

The court documents filed by the accusers state that they believe she was "passing off these works as her creations with an unbelievable origin story."

On the other hand, Mariah Carey expressed her view of the situation through a recollection written down for her memoir.

She wrote that what she aimed to achieve with the songs was feeling - "a sweetness, a clarity, and a purity" - which she sought to capture playing on a cheap Casio keyboard.

In 1989, Vince Vance And The Valiants, a novelty group featuring the character of Vince Vance, released their country-tinged interpretation of the song.

After being reissued late in 1993, it made its way onto the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in early 1994.

Co-written by Vance himself, this famous rendition became an enduring classic.

In October 1994, Mariah Carey unleashed her song "All I Want For Christmas Is You" into the world, and it rapidly became an international phenomenon.

The glorious single is played so much during the winter festivities that, according to The Economist, she earns an astonishing $2.5 million yearly from this single track.

Andy launched a private civil action against Mariah in June last year, asserting that his song had achieved commercial success in the winter before her track's release.

He claimed she and co-writer Walter Afanasieff, along with Sony Music Entertainment, unlawfully profited from his "popularity" and "style."

November 2022 was a breath of fresh air for Mariah Carey, as Andy Stone's lawsuit was officially dropped, according to court documents visible to Rolling Stone.

When she was honored by the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in the same year, the "Butterfly" singer referred to songwriters as "unsung heroes."

The "Through the Rain" singer said, "But I just wanted to say that, like, I constantly have to remind people I'm a songwriter."

She said, "It's become a joke to the point where - because they're all into the diva thing. It's like: 'Oh my God, she's a diva, wow, a diva!' Whatever."

Tags
Mariah Carey
Join the Discussion
Real Time Analytics