Yung Gravy Sued By Rick Astley For Similar Sound
Yung Gravy faces a lawsuit from Rick Astley over his hit single ‘Betty (Get Money)’ which reached success in 2022. When the single was released, it was clear the song was clearly influenced by Rick Astley’s hit record ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’.
Yung Gravy – Betty (Get Money)
Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up
According to Billboard, the lawsuit was filed on Thursday in Los Angeles court. Astley claims that the ‘Get Money’ singer “violated the singer’s so-called right of publicity” due to the uncanny similarities.
At the beginning of the Betty (Get Money) track, Rick Astley’s intro to ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ is played until it goes into Gravys’ own mix.
In the statement by Astley’s lawyer, “In an effort to capitalize off of the immense popularity and goodwill of Mr. Astley, defendants … conspired to include a deliberate and nearly indistinguishable imitation of Mr. Astley’s voice throughout the song,” he goes onto say, “The public could not tell the difference. The imitation of Mr. Astley’s voice was so successful the public believed it was actually Mr. Astley singing.”
Astley’s record, ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ was a massive hit in the past year for its notorious part in internet culture, the ‘Rick Roll’ trend. Some believe ‘Betty (Get Money)’ was a hit due to the similarities.
Rick’s lawyers claim that the singer is “extremely protective over his name, image and likeness,” so to have his voice used without being authorized is “immensely damaging”.
Image Credit: CHARLES REX ARBOGAST/AP/SHUTTERSTOCK
Yung Gravy’s Statement
Gravy’s representatives eventually reached out to give a statement on the matter. In fact, the star and his team allegedly claim they had all musical compositions cleared to the song.
Image Credit: Sir John William Chiaravalle III
Due to the fact that they were not able to sample Astley’s voice for the beginning of the song, they used an impersonator by the name of Nick Seely, to mimic the voice at the intro instead.
Astley’s team fought back at this, “A license to use the original underlying musical composition does not authorize the stealing of the artist’s voice in the original recording,” Astley’s lawyer’s state, “So, instead, they resorted to theft of Mr. Astley’s voice without a license and without agreement.”
Music litigator, Richard Busch, gave a statement to Billboard, “Mr. Astley owns his voice. California law is clear since the Bette Midler case more than 30 years ago that nobody has the right to imitate or use it without his permission.”
Published By: HOLR Magazine