Baton Rouge, United States of America (USA)- Five-time Grammy award winner and her co-writer Walter Afanasieff are both being sued by songwriter, Andy Stone for US$20 million for copyright infringement of the All I Want For Christmas Is You, song.
Andy, who performs as Vince Vance with the country-pop band Vince Vance & the Valiants, accused the defendants of having illegally exploited his popularity and unique style adding that Mariah caused confusion by recording the newer song without his permission.
In addition, Andy claimed that he co-wrote a song of the same name in 1989 for Vince Vance & the Valiants and never allowed it to be used and argued that Mariah and Walter chose to commit acts of unjust enrichment by unlawfully appropriating his work.
All I Want for Christmas Is You was recorded by Mariah in 1994 and was part of her 1994 album Merry Christmas, which became the best-selling US Christmas album of all time, selling more than 15 million copies worldwide.
“I always wanted Christmas to be perfect and I always looked forward to the holidays, but I had this incredibly dysfunctional family that would ruin it every year. I was like, when I grow up, I am never going to let that happen. I am going to make Christmas perfect every year.
Moreso, I have always had such an emotional connection to Christmas. It wasn’t about the gifts, but the hopefulness of the holiday season. I wanted to express that spirit and make a song that made me feel happy at the holidays which was inspired by songs from the 50s and 60s, the ones that you just couldn’t help but be happy whenever you heard them. It means so much to me to be able to sing that song with people all over the world and to share experiences with people that have made this song part of their lives,” said Mariah in one of her past interviews.
