Justin Bieber 'Somebody To Love' Lawsuit: Biebz, Usher To Face $10M Suit Over 2010 Single

Justin Bieber's "Somebody to Love" is now a footnote in Biebs lore. The Usher-supported single carried on the young singer's upward trajectory toward superstardom and is nary a memory to anyone outside Beliebers. However, there is one person who remembers. De Rico, a singer who claims that Usher and Bieber stole the song from him and is asking for $10M in compensation.

According to De Rico (born Devin Copeland) he wrote and recorded the song for his 2008 album My Story II. De Rico claims he recorded the song and played it for Usher and other major-label types at a meeting. Usher passed on the song and then surreptitiously handed the single off to Bieber according to the lawsuit from De Rico and his writing partner M areio Overton. Usher also recorded a version of the song as a demo for Raymond v. Raymond.

"Without any authority or consent," [Usher's mother and manager Jonetta Patton] and Usher conspired with songwriters and producers...to directly copy Plaintiffs' song 'Somebody to Love,' intending to appropriate Plaintiffs' intellectual property as their own," the lawsuit says.

Overton heard the Bieber song on the radio in 2010 and called De Rico.

Prior to that time, neither plaintiff was aware of the Bieber version," the complaint states. 

Other defendants named in the suit include Sony, Universal Music Group and Heather Bright, who is credited as a cowriter of the Bieber release. The lawsuit is available in full over at E!

This caps off quite a long year for Bieber. He's passed out on stage, been thrown out of clubs, attacked paparazzo, been accused of assault, had his pet monkey detained and had his team caught with weed on their tour bus. This lawsuit seems like par for the course for Bieber 2013.  But the one thing that may matter to Bieber is that he is back together with Selena Gomez, according to recent photos.

What do you think? Did Usher steal "Somebody to Love" and pass it on to Bieber?