Mariah Carey refutes claims of stealing 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' as she faces $20M lawsuit
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Mariah Carey condemned the lawsuit filed by two songwriters who claim that she stole their tune to make her famous Christmas single, 'All I Want For Christmas Is You'.
According to court documents obtained by Radar Online, the pop star, Universal Music, and Sony Music requested that Troy Powers and Andy Stone, aka Vince Vance, withdraw all of their allegations.
Notably, Mississippi artist Stone is suing Carey for $20 million, claiming that the singer stole her hit tune 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' from him and withheld his proper royalties.
Stone and Powers, who co-wrote the 1989 song of the same name, have sued Carey multiple times over the same song. According to the pair, the hook, melody, and general vibe of Carey's song were strikingly identical.
The songwriters strongly criticized Carey for having "palmed off these works with her incredulous origin story, as if those works were her own."
Mariah Carey filed a response criticizing the $20 million lawsuit
Carey's newly filed response states, "Andy Stone and Troy Powers after sitting silent for nearly thirty years—which itself is telling—now make the outrageous and insulting claim that Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas copies Plaintiffs’ obscure and obviously different song."
Her lawyer further contended, "Not only does Plaintiffs’ song unlawfully copy an even earlier hit song, but the two songs’ music and lyrics are completely different, with Plaintiffs absurdly relying on, for example."
"Both song’s references—like untold Christmas songs before them—to snow, mistletoe, presents under Christmas trees, and wanting a loved one for Christmas, and relying on generalized and unprotectable themes such as “the human condition, and the need for the company of another above all else at Christmastime," added the filing.
Carey's legal team also informed the court that "the allegedly copied elements or materials lack originality or otherwise are not protected by copyright."
The pop star deemed Stone and Powers' claims to be "not only false but frivolous" and requested that the lawsuit be dropped as well as demanded the songwriters pay her legal costs.
In 2017, Carey claimed she wrote the Christmas song as a child. However, the song's supposed co-songwriter, Walter Afanasieff, attacked her "origin story," and asserted that the vocalist invented an "alternate story" about its composition.
According to him, the song was originally composed during their collaboration on material for her Christmas album.
Andy Stone is suing Mariah Carey for copyright infringement
Stone, a country singer, filed a copyright lawsuit in November 2023, alleging that Carey stole the melody from his song of the same name, and seeks to retrieve at least $20 million from the lawsuit.
Stone claimed he and his band, 'Vince Vance and the Valiants', originally recorded and released the song 'All I Want for Christmas Is You', as per Forbes.
Carey has faced legal issues about 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' on previous occasions. In 2022, Stone had filed a similar lawsuit over the same song but eventually withdrew it—apparently just to try again a year later.
Powers, who co-wrote Stone's song 'All I Want for Christmas Is You,' has joined the lawsuit. The tune was allegedly written by the duo in 1988 and was recorded and released the following year, while Carey's single was released in 1994.
Carey is accused in the lawsuit of copying the "compositional structure of an extended comparison between a loved one and trappings of seasonal luxury", as per NBC News.
Additionally, the lawsuit asserts that Stone and Powers' 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' was crucial in 'Vince Vance and the Valiants' rise to fame. The band alleges in the lawsuit that though the song is not quite as popular as Carey's, it was nonetheless a big country hit in the 1990s.
