A songwriter has accused vocal sensation Alicia Keys of plagiarising part of her latest hit single, 'Girl On Fire'.

Earl Shuman, who has written music that has been performed by the likes of Barbra Streisand and Tom Jones, has claimed that Keys ripped off parts of a track he wrote back in 1962 without permission and he has since filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in a California federal court.

Shuman's original song became a hit for Eddie Holman in 1970 after it was released under the name 'Hey There Lonely Girl', and he has now claimed that Keys illegally sampled sections of it.

In addition to targeting the 'Fallin'' songstress, the lawsuit also goes after the single's co-writers as well as her bosses at Sony Music Entertainment.

The Hollywood Reporter obtained the legal documents and quoted them as saying: "Plaintiff alleges that Keys... did not obtain authorisation concerning the use of Lonely Boy/Girl before writing, distributing and/or exhibiting Girl on Fire... Defendants are earning money from the exploitation of Girl On Fire... without credit, attribution, payment of royalties, or other recognition of Plaintiff's rights."

Check out 'Hey There Lonely Girl' below for a point of comparison along with Keys' single here: