Mariah Carey’s ubiquitous Christmas classic All I Want for Christmas Is You is one of those enduring hits that attracts a lot of attention, airplay and streams whenever the holiday season rolls around.
The latest bit of attention the song is getting, however, would be unwanted by the pop star.
Carey is being sued by singer-songwriter Andy Stone, whose stage name is Vince Vance, of the band Vince Vance and the Valiants.
Stone alleges Carey copied a song, also named All I Want for Christmas Is You, which he released with his group in 1989.
Carey’s song was released in 1994.
It is the second time Stone has sued over the song, after he withdrew a 2022 case. Troy Powers, who was responsible for the musical composition of the Valiants’ song, is also named as a plaintiff.
In court papers seen by ABC News, Stone’s legal team alleges that while the phrase in the song’s title is part of the popular culture landscape now, it wasn’t back when he co-authored his song in 1988 prior to its release the following year.
Carey co-wrote All I Want for Christmas Is You with star producer Walter Afanasieff, who Stone is also suing.
Speaking to Billboard to mark the song’s 20th anniversary, Afanasieff spoke about how the track came to be.
The song’s origin story forms part of Stone’s latest lawsuit, in which he alleges discrepancies in Afanasieff’s account.
Stone is being represented by lawyer Gerard P Fox, who also represented two songwriters in a case against Taylor Swift over her song Shake It Off. They reached an undisclosed settlement in 2022.
Carey is yet to comment publicly.
ABC News has contacted Carey’s record company Sony Music, which is also a defendant in the lawsuit, for comment.
Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You is part of the holiday soundtrack in countries that celebrate Christmas around the world.
It spent weeks at number one on the ARIA charts last December, 28 years after its release.
It reportedly generates $US2.5 million for Carey each year, and by December 2021 had made more than $US72 million according to Forbes, which based its calculations on an earlier study by The Economist.
(9 NEWS)
