Madonna sued over Vogue

Back in July 2012, a Delaware company hit Madonna and her label WB Records with a lawsuit claiming she stole portions of one of their songs for her hit 1990 hit “Vogue.”

Pointing to Salsoul Orchestra’s 1975 dance tune “Chicago Bus Stop (Ooh, I Love It) Love Break”, owner VMG Salsoul LLC claims…

The portions of ‘Love Break,’ which have been copied into ‘Vogue’ and all its various ‘mixes,’ ‘remixes,’ videos, YouTube versions, etc., are numerous but intentionally hidden. The horn and strings in ‘Vogue’ are intentionally sampled from ‘Love Break’ throughout.
The unauthorized sampling was deliberately hidden by [Madonna] within ‘Vogue’ so as to avoid detection. It was only when VMG specifically looked for the sample, with the technology available to it in 2011, that the sampling could be confirmed

The company also says music producer Richard “Shep” Pettibone facilitated the process by altering the samples after he was originally hired by VMG to remix “Love Break,” later working on “Vogue.

A June 18 Los Angeles trial date is set to determine if Madonna should pay for horn and string samples used on her 23-year-old dance hit “Vogue.”
The plaintiff is seeking unspecified damages, plus all profits made from sales of “Vogue.”