Mariah Carey is undoubtedly one of the greatest singers in history, and her career has been truly exceptional. Carey's voice is what she's best known for, and her voice propelled her albums to immense success on the Billboard charts. While that's a huge accomplishment on its own, she has also delivered some solid acting performances, too.
Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a certified classic, but recently, it was hit with a massive lawsuit. Let's take a closer look at the legendary singer and the lawsuit in question.
Mariah Carey Is A Legend
Unless you have completely missed the boat since the 1990s, you are no doubt aware of the fact that Mariah Carey is one of the most popular and successful singers of her era. Few performers in history have possessed a voice as talented and as distinguishable as hers, and during her illustrious career, Carey became one of the industry's brightest stars.
Whether it was a solo song or a classic collab, Mariah Carey was always able to stand out from her peers. She was untouchable in her prime, and she dominated the industry like few others. Even when the chips seemed down, she mounted a massive comeback and reclaimed her place at the top.
Per Celebrity Net Worth, "Mariah Carey is one of the 15 best-selling musical artists in history having sold over 200 million albums worldwide to date. She is the second best-selling female artists of all time, behind Madonna. She has more #1 songs than any other female writer/producer in US chart history. As of this writing she has won five Grammys, 10 AMAs, and 15 Billboard Music Awards."
She's done it all, including unleashing a Christmas classic.
"All I Want For Christmas Is You" Is A Classic
In October 1994, Mariah Carey unleashed "All I Want for Christmas Is You," a song which has since become one of the most popular and loved Christmas songs of all time.
Christmas music has been largely stagnant for a long time, and most of the time, artists will simply cover the classics. This is partly why the release of this song was a breath of fresh air back of the 1990s, and why it has been a radio staple for over two decades.
Since its release, the song has had an unprecedented amount of success.
According to Cosmopolitan, "The song has charted every single holiday season since its release 27 years ago (crazy, I know!), which means 2020 marked the fourth straight decade that the song was a number one hit in—something no other artist has ever done!"
Despite this, it took the song 25 years to actually top the Hot 100.
"Even though the song literally owned the number one spot on the Holiday 100 chart that year for 38 consecutive weeks (bc duh), “All I Want for Christmas Is You” took over the Hot 100 list for the first time ever—25 years after it was released," Cosmopolitan writes.
It sure seems like this song has been nothing but positive for Mariah Carey, but recent events suggest otherwise.
The $20 Million Lawsuit
According to NBC News, "The lawsuit has been brought by songwriter Andy Stone who alleges he co-wrote a song with the same title five years earlier. A complaint filed Friday in New Orleans federal court shows that Stone, who lives in Mississippi, is seeking at least $20 million in damages for copyright infringement and misappropriation, among other claims, from Carey and her co-writer Walter Afanasieff as well as from Sony Corporation of America and its subsidiary Sony Music Entertainment."
The interesting thing to note here is that Stone's version of this song debuted long before Mariah Carey's.
"Stone, artistically known Vince Vance of the New Orleans country-pop band Vince Vance & the Valiants, co-wrote and recorded his version of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in 1989, according to the complaint."
The song, per NBC News, had airplay into the 1990s, notably the year preceding the release of Carey's classic.
However, the songs actually differ in both lyrics and melody.
The site also mentions that "the lawsuit argues that Carey and the other defendants “never sought or obtained permission” to use, reproduce or distribute Stone's song which was a "copyrightable subject matter" prior Carey's 1994 release."
It is going to be some time before anything comes of this case, so fans will be keeping an eye to see how it all plays out. Considering how they differ completely, it could be hard for Stone to get the win in this case.
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