Rick Astley is suing rapper Yung Gravy for using an alleged impersonation of his voice on a recent single.
The singer’s 1987 worldwide hit Never Gonna Give You Up is interpolated in Yung Gravy’s song Betty (Get Money). The song features an alleged imitation of Astley’s vocals, something the singer said had not been agreed. The rapper and his team allegedly cleared the use of the underlying musical composition of Never Gonna Give You Up, which was written by Stock Aitken Waterman. This allowed them to recreate music and lyrics from the original song for their own track, a process known as interpolating.
Lawyers for Astley say the alleged impersonation violated his right to publicity, by mimicking the distinctive voice he used in the song. The lawsuit claims that Astley’s distinctive voice is a resource that needs to be carefully managed. Yung Gravy has not yet commented.
The legal papers claim Yung Gravy and his producers, including Dillon Francis, “conspired to include a deliberate and nearly indistinguishable imitation of Mr Astley’s voice throughout the song”. Astley is also suing Nick Seeley (also known as Popnick), the alleged vocal impersonator.
Never Gonna Give You Up was a worldwide number one hit upon its release and has enjoyed significant cultural impact since. It was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, the trio responsible for several other classic hits from the same era by artists such as Kylie Minogue and Dead or Alive. Never Gonna Give You Up is the subject of an internet meme known as “rickrolling” - whereby unsuspecting users are redirected to the song’s music video when they click on misleading links.
The song has been covered on many occasions over the years by acts including rock group Smash Mouth, US singer Barry Manilow and British boyband 911. The track has also been interpolated several times - Danish dance artist Calvin attracted more than 23 million Spotify streams to his 2016 re-imagining of the song, titled Give U Up.
While a sample is a snippet of an original song that’s been copied and pasted into an entirely new piece, an interpolation is when a recording is recreated note for note and reflects the underlying composition.
For example, if you performed the melody from Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” single within your own song, it would be considered an interpolation. But if you lifted an uncut loop from the original recording, it would be considered sampling.
It is important to understand the difference between the two, as the process for clearing interpolations and samples is slightly different. When you sample something, you must get permission for a recording use license from the owner of the recording (normally a record label), and permission for a copyright license from the owner of the underlying composition (normally a publisher). This is because you are featuring both the recording and the underlying composition in a new musical work.
However, if you are just doing an interpolation of a song, you only need to get permission from the owner of the underlying composition since you are just featuring the underlying composition — not the original recording — in your new song.
IMO, Gravy’s version and vocals are not that similar to Astley’s apart from the occasional insert (which IS quite close) … but I’m no expert … 
If the “inserts” had been samples then, seemingly, separate permissions should have been obtained - to include “Astley’s” voice is therefore, presumptuous, and, possibly, illegal … 