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.
“The phrase “all I want for Christmas is you” may seem like a common parlance today, in 1988 it was, in context, distinctive. Moreover, the combination of the specific chord progression in the melody paired with the verbatim hook was a greater than 50% clone of Vance’s original work, in both lyric choice and chord expressions,” the papers say.
Song took plaintiff to the White House
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.
“Defendant Afanasieff, who is a professional record producer and songwriter, purportedly composed “All I Want for Christmas Is You” in a mere quarter of an hour with co-defendant Carey. But even this hubristic retelling strains credulity. Apparently, Carey created a conflicting provenance, seemingly out of thin air, about writing the song in 15 minutes when she was a minor. Afansieff later voiced his strong dissenting opinion on Carey’s version of the song’s origin story. It is Plaintiff’s contention that however short that period of minutes it took for co-defendants to create their ’94 version, the resulting song was unlicensed and it infringed upon Plaintiff’s original Copyrighted work.”
Stone is suing for $US20 million ($31 million) in damages and claims his version of the song was a success.
“After its release, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” became a country music hit. After extensive seasonal airplay in 1993, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” appeared on Billboard’s Hot Country chart in January 1994. Vince Vance’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” returned seasonally to Billboard’s Hot Country chart five more times throughout the 1990s, peaking at No. 31.”
The papers claim Stone was invited twice to perform at the White House when former president Bill Clinton was in power.
“”All I Want for Christmas Is You” helped Vince Vance and the Valiants gain national prominence. In April 1994, Vince Vance and the Valiants performed at the White House, and were invited back again for a second performance in 1995.”
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.