Eminem sued by jazz star

NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - Controversial rap star Eminem is being sued by a French jazz pianist who says he stole one of his songs.

Jacques Loussier is seeking $10m (�7m) from Eminem and his record company after alleging that the star's album track Kill You copied his jazz fusion song Pulsion.

Loussier is complaining that the backing track to Kill You is strikingly similar to his instrumental. He is seeking a ban on the broadcast of Kill You, which appears on Eminem's hit album The Marshall Mathers LP.

'Never authorised'

He also wants to stop sales of the album and wants any copies that are still on sale to be destroyed.

Eminem's record label Interscope Records and its parent company, Vivendi Universal, were also named as defendants in the lawsuit that was filed in New York on Friday, 29 March.
"The conduct of defendants as alleged in this complaint was never authorised, licensed, permitted or ratified by plaintiff," Loussier said in the suit.
Kill You was one of the most popular tracks in The Marshall Mathers LP, which went to number one in summer 2000.

Award

The song sees Eminem, who has been criticised for his misogynistic and homophobic themes, rap lyrics about killing women, including the line: "I'm ready to play, I got the machete from OJ."

The Marshall Mathers LP won a Grammy Award for best rap album in 2000.

Loussier composes music that combines rock, electronic and classical elements with jazz. He began his career after graduating from the Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris in the 1950s.
His first group, the Play Bach Trio, sold more than six million albums in 15 years, and his recording studio in the south of France has been used by Pink Floyd, Elton John and Sting.