Donna Summer’s Estate Sues Kanye West for Illegal Use of ‘I Feel Love’
Donna Summer, Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign.
Getty Images (3)Donna Summer‘s estate used Kanye West And Ty Dolla $ign for copyright infringement.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, February 28, in California federal court, alleged that West, 46, and Dolla $ign, 41, illegally used an interpolation of the late singer’s 1977 hit.I feel love“on their song”Good (don’t die),” according to People. The song is on the duo’s new joint album, Vultures 1, which they released on February 10th.
Bruce Sudanowho was married to Summer when she died of cancer in 2012 at age 63, is listed as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The estate previously stated that it denied the rapper’s request to use the track.
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“Kanye West … requested permission to use Donna Summer’s song ‘I Feel Love’ but was denied,” read a statement on Summer’s official Instagram Story on February 10. “He changed the words, had someone sing it again or used AI, but it’s ‘I feel love.’”
In the lawsuit, Summer’s estate alleged that “consent was expressly denied. Despite this denial, Defendants brazenly used immediately recognizable portions of Summer’s hit song.”
The document added that the artists “arrogantly and unilaterally decided that they would simply steal the song” when their request was denied by the estate because they “did not want any association with West’s controversial history.”
The estate wrote in the lawsuit that the request was rejected twice in writing and by telephone on February 3. The lawsuit seeks $150,000 for each violation.
The Zomerlandgoed is not the only one to complain that West is infringing on music copyrights.
Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne.
Jeff Vespa/Getty Images for TWCSharon Osborne and husband Ozzy Osbourne also accused West of illegally using Ozzy’s music.
“@kanyewest REQUESTED PERMISSION TO SAMPLE PART OF A LIVE PERFORMANCE OF 1983 American FESTIVAL’S ‘WAR PIG’ WITHOUT SINGING AND WAS DENIED PERMISSION BECAUSE HE IS AN ANTI-SEMITE AND HAS CAUSED UNMENTIONED HORRIBLE TO MANY,” Ozzy, 75, wrote, via X on February 9 referring to the Black Sabbath song. “HE WENT ON AND USED THE EXAMPLE ANYWAY LAST NIGHT AT HIS ALBUM LISTENING PARTY. I DO NOT WANT AN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS MAN!”
Osbourne initially confused the song in question – he thought West was using Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’, when in fact it was the band’s song ‘Iron Man’.
Although West technically granted Osbourne’s request, he found a solution to keep the ‘Iron Man’ monster intact.
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Instead, West used a sample of his own 2010 song “Hell of a Life” from his album My beautiful dark, twisted fantasywith a version of the guitar riff from ‘Iron Man’.
Sharon, 71, shared Rolling stone that they don’t want West to be associated with their music.
“We get so many requests for these songs, and when we saw that request, we just said, no,” she said in an interview published Tuesday.
“The simple thing is, we don’t want to be associated with a hater,” she continued. “He should not be allowed to spread hate the way he does. All the excuses – he’s bipolar or whatever – don’t change that. It’s basically like: fk you.
It is not the first time that the controversial rapper has been accused of copyright infringement.
In December 2023, West came under fire for sampling the Back Street Boys‘ 1997 hit “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” without permission. And in 2022, the company that owns it Boogie Down ProductionsThe 1986 song “South Bronx” sued him for the same reason, although that lawsuit was eventually dropped.