April 19th, 2007 at 16:30 by Stuart Heritage
Hey kids, remember Des ree? If you do remember Des ree we re sure it s only a vague recollection - unlike Beyonce, who remembers Des ree so much that she covered one of her songs for her newest album and is now getting sued for it.
When Beyonce decided to repackage her six-month-old album B Day to screw over her fans for cash give her fans something special and new, she thought that covering old Des ree track I m Kissing You would be a sound idea.
And it would have been, had Beyonce thought to properly get clearance for the song. Which she didn t. And now Des ree wants revenge, either by suing Beyonce for $150,000 or by challenging her to the ultimate R B challenge - seeing who wail the American national anthem in the most preposterously overblown way at some godforsaken sporting event.
Beyonce is not normally a woman you would want to mess with. Say the wrong thing to Beyonce and she ll , threaten to withhold that for even longer or until you re so weirded out that you have to run away.
But Des ree doesn t care about the might of Beyonce.
She doesn t care that, while all day, Des ree has to keep explaining who she is to everyone she meets by saying I did that You Gotta Be song - you know, the one off the official Princess Diana tribute album. Because Beyonce and Des ree have history.
Firstly Des ree is a very vocal supporter of animal rights group PETA - the same .
And secondly Des ree is suing Beyonce for covering one of her old songs without getting the proper permission first. Metro reports:
Charges have been filed in Manhattan Superior Court by Des ree, alleging that the Dreamgirls star didn t get permission to do her version of I m Kissing You, which appeared on her most recent album. Des ree says in the suit that there was an initial attempt for a deal to be worked out, but that they wanted to change the title and film a music video, both of which were denied.
As a result, the song was simply recorded and released, under the title Still In Love (Kissing You).
It s worth pointing out that the song Des ree is disputing, Still In Love (Kissing You), only appears on the US version of the deluxe edition of . Incidentally, what s the point of a deluxe edition of B Day?
How many people can honestly say that they listened to the original version of B Day and thought If only this album was 12 tracks longer and contained four separate versions of that rubbish Shakira duet ?
Anyway, it s thought that if Des ree s lawsuit is successful then Beyonce will have to pay her $150,000 in damages and stop distribution of any albums with her song on it. But don t be upset Beyonce fans - if that happens you ll still be able to chose between the North American original version of B Day, the Japanese original version of B Day, the rest of the world original version of B Day, the iTunes exclusive original version of B Day, the EU/ Asian/ Australian deluxe version of B Day and the Latin American deluxe version of B Day.
But you needn t bother, because none of them are actually that great.
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