Tom Waits sues over soundalike car ads

FRANKFORT, Germany, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Tom Waits has filed suit in Frankfurt, Germany, against General Motors and an agency for stealing his vocal style for ads.

Waits issued a news release from Los Angeles Thursday saying General Motors' Opel and ad agency McCann-Erickson found a gravelly- voiced "doppelganger" to render a perfect imitation of him after he repeatedly refused to appear in a series of car commercials.

The ads aired in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, Waits said.

The suit charges the defendants with violating Waits' personality rights under German law and seeks "recovery from the defendants' ill-gotten gains," the release said.

Waits noted he has a longstanding policy to never sell his music, voice or image for commercial advertising.

He said he was hopeful the German court would render a decision making him "radioactive to advertisers."