Kanye West, Roc-A-Fella Records & Island Def-Jam Music Hit With A Lawsuit

A one-time child soul singer has slammed Kanye West with a lawsuit charging the rapper co-opted his voice without asking and used it on his album “Yeezus.”

Ricky Spicer, 56, of Ohio, said he was stunned when he heard himself on the radio backing up West on the hit single “Bound 2,” which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard charts in June.


Spicer said he recorded the lyrics when he was the 12-year-old lead singer of The Ponderosa Twins plus One.




“Mr. Spicer’s voice is sampled exactly as he recorded it and his voice … is heard several times,” said the suit, filed Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Spicer is demanding that West compensate him or cease and desist from using his voice.

Besides West, the suit names recording labels Roc-A-Fella Records, Island Def-Jam Music, Rhino Entertainment and Universal Music Group as defendants.

Spicer was living in the Ohio Boys Town orphanage when he was discovered at a 1969 talent show. Music publisher Chuck Brown got him to join The Ponderosa Twins — then made up of two sets of twins.

“He was their Michael Jackson,” said Spicer’s attorney, Vincent Imbesi.

Universal Music Group, the parent company of Roc-A-Fella Records and Island Def-Jam, did not respond to a request for comment.





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