Representatives for the George Michael estate have confirmed that they have taken action against the Tory Lanez track 'Enchanted Waterfall' which, they say, includes an uncleared sample from ‘Careless Whisper’, which Michael co-wrote with Andrew Ridgeley. Lanez's track is currently unavailable on Spotify.
A statement from both the George Michael estate and Ridgeley published by Variety reads: “It was brought to our attention that the song ‘Enchanted Waterfall’ by the artist Tory Lanez incorporated an unauthorised sample of ‘Careless Whisper’ written by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley”.
“Requested permission for this use had been declined in June 2021”, it added, “so we took immediate action on behalf of the writers, in collaboration with our publishers Warner Chappell Music, to prevent further exploitation as we will not tolerate any unauthorised use of any songs within the catalogues of George Michael and/or Andrew Ridgeley".
The statement from the George Michael estate follows comments made by Madonna late last year, when she accused Lanez of including an unlicensed sample of her hit 'Into The Groove' in 'Pluto’s Last Comet', another track that appears on the same album as 'Enchanted Waterfall'.
She initially made that claim in a comment under one of Lanez's posts on Instagram, subsequently telling Rolling Stone of her dispute with the rapper: “I am tired of being taken advantage of and I mean business".