Rick Astley sues Yuang Gravy for voice impersonation

Rick Astley sues Yuang Gravy for voice impersonation. Rick Astley has filed a lawsuit against rapper Yung Gravy for copying his smash single Never Gonna Give Up.

According to Billboard, the Never Gonna Give Up singer filed a complaint alleging that Gravy's single Betty (Get Money) was a rip-off of his 1987 hit.

"Defendants... collaborated to incorporate a purposeful and practically indistinguishable impersonation of Mr. Astley's voice throughout the song in an effort to capitalise on Mr. Astley's tremendous fame and goodwill," Astley's attorneys stated.

"The general population couldn't tell the difference. The impersonation of Mr. Astley's voice was so convincing that the public thought it was Mr. Astley singing."

The 56-year-old is also "very protective of his name, image, and likeness," according to the attorneys, and the unlawful use of the soundalike voice has caused him "immense injury."

"A licence to exploit the original underlying musical composition does not authorise the theft of the artist's voice in the original recording," argued Astley's attorneys.

"Instead, they resorted to stealing Mr Astley's voice without a licence or permission."

According to TMZ, Gravy's lawsuit for the song "Together Forever" is worth "millions of dollars."

Previously, the Mr Clean rapper claimed in an interview that he spoke with Astley, who gave his approval to the new song and that he "***** with it."

Never Gonna Give You Up was a global smash when it was released, while Betty (Get Money) has been Gravy's most successful single, reaching gold status in the United States.