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Alicia Keys Sued: 'Girl on Fire' Singer Accused of Copyright Infringement

alicia keys girl on fire lawsuitGetty Images

Alicia Keys' hit song "Girl on Fire" has literally ... uh, come under fire.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, songwriter Earl Shuman filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in a California federal court last week. He accuses Keys of using parts of his 1962 single "Lonely Boy/Girl" without permission.

The legal documents explain, "Plaintiff alleges that Keys ... did not obtain authorization concerning the use of 'Lonely Boy/Girl' before writing, distributing and/or exhibiting 'Girl on Fire' ... Defendants are earning money from the exploitation of 'Girl On Fire' ... without credit, attribution, payment of royalties, or other recognition of Plaintiff's rights."

Shuman's song became a chart hit in 1970 when Eddie Holman recorded it as "Hey There Lonely Girl," reaching #2 on the Billboard charts.

The song similarity was first noticed by blogger Roger Friedman at Showbiz411, in a November post. "In the middle of the song, Alicia sings a couplet or so from Eddie Holman's 1970 classic 'Hey There Lonely Girl,'" he said. "The song was written by Leon Carr and Earl Shuman, who are both gone to rock 'n' roll heaven."

But Shuman is still alive and well, and after reading the post, he is believed to have contacted Friedman, telling him he needed a "good lawyer" on the case. Shuman wrote, "Hi Roger, I am the co-writer of 'Hey There Lonely Girl' and I appreciate your recognizing an important part of 'Lonely Girl' in Alicia Keys' new recording. Thanks for your expertise. By the way, though my dear friend Leon Carr is in Rock and Roll Heaven, I'm still here on the ground, writing songs."

Now, Shuman has decided to take action. In the lawsuit, Keys and the other "Girl on Fire" songwriters are named, as well as Sony Music Entertainment.

Listen to the two songs below to see if you hear a similarity.

Watch Eddie Holman's "Hey There Lonely Girl" Video
Watch Alicia Keys' "Girl on Fire" Video



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sx

While it does sound like Roxette's "take my breath away" during the "oh oh oh oh ohhhhh oh oh oh oh" part, it sounds noting the like the 1970s megahit Hey There Lonely Girl. AK's song girl on fire is, in my opinion, redundant, repetitive, boring and stupid. The best part of it IS how it sounds like Roxette.

January 19 2013 at 2:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rosa

"Hey there lonely gir" sounds nothing like "she's a lonely girl and it's a lonely world. Only two words are the same and I don't believe the man is the only one with rights to the two words "lonely girl". His song is much slower at that particular part anyway. Alicia didn't copy anything. Why would she? She is a writer and she shouldn't have to check every word or two words to make sure no one else has used them. I thought there was something called freedom of speech in this country. The blogger stated an opinion and he ran with it. Hope she goes after him or at least gives him a good talking to.

December 21 2012 at 1:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
budbecker23

I loved "Lonely Girl" the first time around but the Alicia Keys song is not "Lonely Girl" and if the one line were edited out it would not change the power of the song. So hopefuly it will get some exposure for Earl Shuman, but I can not see any judge with any musci skills giving this any creds. Good luck to both parties, but Earl could better spend his time writing another hit!

December 20 2012 at 9:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gilbert

I don't hear any similarities. There is a 2 second bit 2 thirds of the way through the song where it sound similar but that is just a hiccup. The lawsuit is just a shakedown attempt to get some easy cash.

December 20 2012 at 9:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
freeradicals

Sorry Alicia, not only do you belt out "On Fire" way too many times, you're a cheat. Not just the words, the melody matches. In business, it's illegal.

Anyone college student knows, --> she should have used "Turn it in dot com".

December 20 2012 at 7:53 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
Barbara

I'm afraid I don't hear anything in Keys song that sounds like Lonely Girl. He's reaching!

December 20 2012 at 7:37 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
randy

Basically the lawsuit won't fly. 2 bars of a basic melody and lonely girl is not cw infringment.

December 20 2012 at 7:02 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
shelbial

Seems a bit petty to me. It's about 8 similar notes and the same rhyming words. Girl is not an easy word to rhyme and still fit into the theme of the song. I think any similarity is unintentional. I also think that if you examined any song closely you could find a similarity to another song. There are only so many notes and combinations on a keyboard. The order is bound to be repeated many times over since there are millions of songs out there

December 20 2012 at 2:56 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
cetaami

I'm not surprised. Doesn't Alicia Keys also sing that song about New York with rapper Jay Z? The music on that song was definitely stolen from the 70s classic, Love on a Two Way Street, recorded by the Moments. Can't today's artists do anything original?

December 20 2012 at 1:43 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to cetaami's comment
dude guy

it's called sampling and Jay-Z does it all the time. All the rappers do it.
As for these two songs, she clearly says lonely girl...lonely world once in the same melody as the original. That's not enough to win a lawsuit. Keys' song stands original in my opinion. If I'm wrong and this is infringement, somebody enlighten me!?

December 20 2012 at 10:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
noodles865

Soooooooo thought it was going to be against Lady GaGa

December 20 2012 at 12:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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