Who were the members of St. Lunatics? Nelly hit with copyright lawsuit over his 2000 album

Hip-hop group St. Lunatics recently filed a lawsuit on September 18, 2024, against Nelly on charges of copyright infringement. The accusations are linked to Nelly's debut album Country Grammar, which came out back in 2000. Notably, Nelly was a part of the band at the beginning of his career.

Country Grammar was released by record label Universal Music Group, also known as UMG. The company was mentioned in the lawsuit alongside other labels, including BMG Songs and Kobait Music Publishing America.

The band members also included Murphy Lee, Ali, City Spud, Kyjuan, and Slo Down. The legal documents obtained by Variety alleged that Nelly, also known as Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., did not give credit to St. Lunatics, who also worked on the project. The group's counsel Precious Felder Gates told Billboard:

"We're not concerned about the statute of limitations and hope for an harmonious resolution. If not, we will pursue all legal remedies afforded to our clients."

Although Cornell signed a deal with the record label, St. Lunatics also did the same considering that they penned the lyrics for a few tracks from the album. However, Haynes Jr. was frequently contacted by the group to give credit for Country Grammar and the artist reportedly told them that he took the full credit for himself.

Meanwhile, Cornell has not shared any response to the lawsuit and the copyright charges until now.

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St. Lunatics' copyright lawsuit against Nelly explained in detail

The recent lawsuit stated that members of St. Lunatics worked on eight singles from the album. Apart from the title track, the other seven songs include Steal the Show, Thick Thick Girl, Wrap Something/Sunden, Better Up, Iz U, Go, and Gimme What You Go.

While the legal documents of 41 pages stated that Nelly "committed successive acts of copyright infringement", it also mentioned that the plaintiffs want the court to declare that "they are the authors, creators, composers, writers and/or lawful copyright owners of the Original Compositions contained in the Infringing Album."

The lawsuit also claimed that the defendants intentionally breached the "copyrights and exclusive rights" of the plaintiffs, adding that it led to the violation of the United States Copyright Act.

The documents stated that the group spoke to Nelly, who told them that he would not stop them from "receiving the financial success" that they deserved, referring to them as "friends." Furthermore, the lawsuit mentioned:

"Unfortunately, plaintiffs, reasonably believing that their friend and former band member would never steal credit for writing the original compositions, did not initially pursue any legal remedies."

While St. Lunatics waited to get credit for a long time, they found in 2020 that Cornell never intended to do the same for them. The group eventually sent a letter to Haynes Jr. through an attorney the following year but the latter's legal team denied the claims related to their client giving credit for the album.

Country Grammar was one of the most successful projects in Cornell's career. The album sold thousands of copies and also grabbed the first spot on the US Billboard 200.