A Chicago songwriter is suing Beyonce and her former group, Destiny’s Child, for allegedly stealing the idea for their 2004 hit “Cater 2 U.” Rickey Allen says he copyrighted his version of “Cater 2 U” in the mid 1990s and renewed the copyright several times, most recently in 2000. Allen’s song title is spelled the same way Destiny’s Child spelled theirs and Allen claims that even though the lyrics aren’t exactly the same, they’re both about the same thing: pampering a lover at the end of a long, hard day.
For instance, the Destiny’s Child record asks, “Want a foot rub?” and Rickey Allen’s record says, “I want to rub you down.” Destiny’s Child offers to “Let me run your bath water” and Allen’s lyric says “The tub has hot steam rising.”
Allen says he gave a copy of his “Cater 2 U” to a Chicago remixer named Maurice Joshua. The two guys planned to work together on a demo but those plans fell through. Maurice Joshua later worked with Destiny’s Child on a different song. Meanwhile, Joshua claims he never had a copy of Allen’s song. Lawyers for Destiny’s Child say Beyonce came up with the idea for “Cater 2 U” and they want this case thrown out. But a Chicago judge has agreed to let it go to trial.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 12:55 am