Insert Foot, Yung Gravy and Jeffrey Osborne vs. Rick Astley.

Rick Astley is suing 26-year-old rapper Yung Gravy for hiring a singer to imitate him in his 2022 hit “Betty (Get Money).”

Eighties soul singer Jeffrey Osborne’s lawyer better have just told him to hold his beer.

Rick Astley is still semi-famous for two reasons: People who don’t remember how we allowed adult men to dance in the 1980s hear his voice and think he’s anything but a white British guy.

The other reason is, of course, the aughts phenomenon “rickrolling,” which meant sending the video of Astley’s 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” to someone, sticking the song and the image of Astley dancing in their head, thereby ruining their life.

C’mon Rick, we’re still talking about you in 2023. Your shelf life defies physics, logic, common sense and probably a few laws. You sounded so much like a Black soul singer, I’m sure your first royalty checks went to Osbourne, an actual ’80s Black soul singer, by mistake.

Your hair, however, is fascinating. Still.

According to Billboard, Astley is suing Mr. Gravy because the Minnesota rapper (and BottleRock 2023 artist—please pick up the phone, we want to talk!) allegedly violated Astley’s “right of publicity” by hiring a singer to imitate his voice on the track.

“Right of publicity?” That’s a new one, isn’t it? I wish I knew about that when all those record companies denied me my right of publicity to become famous.

So much for imitation being the highest form of flattery. Astley supposedly approved the use of the melody and lyrics, but he didn’t approve the use of a singer sounding like him sounding like Jeffrey Osborne.

The lawsuit allegedly refers to Astley’s “signature voice” and how Yung Gravy “conspired to include a deliberate and nearly indistinguishable imitation of Mr Astley’s voice,” with the intent to “capitalise off of the immense popularity and goodwill” of Astley.

Irony stands outside my door right now, screaming at the top of its lungs for attention.

According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Astley’s lawyers say Gravy’s song caused “immense damage,” given that Astley is “extremely protective” over his image and likeness.

“Immense damage?” Even my 14-year-old knows who Rick Astley is now, thanks to Yung Gravy. I mean, she’s not out buying old Rick Astley records – mostly because she doesn’t know what a record is – but she knows his name now. That’s some of that publicity stuff Rick Astley is complaining his rights to are being violated.

I would think 56-year-old Rick Astley would want his name and voice to last as long as possible, whoever is carrying it forward.

Astley doesn’t actually own the song; that’s the property of a company named Stock Aitken Waterman, who gave Gravy the right to interpret the track but denied a request to sample it. Which means the Gravy people couldn’t use any part of the song itself.

So they didn’t.

The Guardian, which wrongly spells words because it’s British, said Astley’s lawyers said, “A licence to use the original underlying musical composition does not authorise the stealing of the artist’s voice in the original recording.”

“So, instead, they resorted to theft of Mr. Astley’s voice without a licence and without agreement.”

But they didn’t steal Jeffrey Osborne’s voice that Rick Astley stole, did they? They used another guy who sounded like him.

Gravy admitted to Billboard last year he wanted to make the record sound as close to Astley as possible.

Somewhere, Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain stop fighting to jointly hope Steve Perry’s lawyer isn’t paying attention.

I’m all for artists’ rights not being violated. Astley probably deserves something for someone trying to replicate his voice in a song that made them a bunch of money. But considering a big chunk of his fame came from being the guy who sounded like other guys…

Maybe they should’ve hired Jeffrey Osborne.

Follow music critic Tony Hicks at Twitter.com/TonyBaloney1967.