27 January 2023 , 10:07
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Rick Astley is suing US rapper Yung Gravy for allegedly creating a "deliberate and nearly indistinguishable imitation" of his hit-track Never Gonna Give You Up.
The Rick Roll artist, 56, has reportedly filed a "multimillion dollar" lawsuit against the Betty (Get Money) performer and his team.
He claims that Yung Gravy, real name Matthew Raymond Hauri, and his production team had only licensed the popular track's instrumental – not the vocals.
Rick's legal team told a court that the Matthew, 26, and his team – including Dillon Francis, and impersonator Nick 'Popnick' Seeley – were not authorised to 'recreate' vocals.
They say Astley missed out on lucrative future collaboration opportunities after Matthew used Never Gonna Give You Up in his newly-released single.
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Rick Astley is suing US rapper Yung Gravy (Rick Astley/Youtube)Documents, obtained by TMZ, show that Rick's team claim they "conspired to include a deliberate and nearly indistinguishable imitation of Mr. Astley's voice throughout the song".
In court, Astley cited a Billboard interview from August last year in which Matthew explained how they "basically remade" Rick's vocals for the 'Get Money' track.
He said: "I always thought that sample would be sick to do something with. I just never figured it was clearable.
"Somebody who had part-ownership of the rights to the sample hit me up like, "We f*** with you, you should try it out."
Betty (Get Money) achieved gold status in America (Getty Images for Pizza Hut)He added: "My boy Nick, who does a lot of sample replays and recreating original samples, we basically remade the whole song.
"Had a different singer and instruments, but it was all really close because it makes it easier legally."
Never Gonna Give You Up was initially released in December 1987 and was at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart by March 1988.
Betty (Get Money) achieved gold status in America, Australia and Canada.
Never Gonna Give You Up was released in December 1987 (Redferns)The case comes after Rick spoke openly about shunning the limelight at height of his fame and how he calms down superfans.
"Whenever I meet fans after a gig, my thing is about trying to sort of make that moment as normal as it can be," he told The Mirror last year.
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On fame he said: "I’m not embarrassed to say I made a huge amount of money. I made the kind of money where you just don’t have to think about anything anymore."