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Business News Legal
Beyonce sued by Hungarian folk singer
By Aly Barchi | Published on Wednesday 17 December 2014
A Hungarian Roma folk singer is suing Beyonce for allegedly sampling and “digitally manipulating” part of one of her songs as the intro to ‘Drunk In Love’, the Grammy-winning lead single off Bey’s latest LP ‘Beyonce’, without seeking permission.
The New York Post reports that Monika Miczura Juhász, aka Mitsou, also names Beyonce’s husband Jay Z and six other ‘Drunk In Love’ co-writers (not least Timbaland) as defendants in the claim, which relates to a single she released with the band Ando Drom in 1995, titled ‘Bajba, Bajba Pelém’.
Mitsou’s lawyers state that “altogether, Mitsou’s vocals are featured for over one and a half minutes of the five and one half minute song. [‘Drunk In Love’ exploits her voice] to evoke foreign eroticism alongside the sexually intense lyrics performed by Beyonce and Jay Z”.
“[Mitsou] has never signed any documents that would permit anyone to use her voice for advertising or trade purposes… and never granted any of the defendants permission to use her voice for any purpose”, continues the suit, adding: “Blatant unauthorised use of [Mitsou’s] voice for trade purposes is causing irreparable harm and emotional distress”.
This all follows the dismissal last week of another sample-based lawsuit filed against Beyonce’s co-defendant in this latest case Jay Z, concerning the use of the word “oh” in his and Rihanna’s 2009 track ‘Run This Town’.
