He's accused of ste

The Weeknd reportedly faces legal action from a trio of British songwriters who say that he allegedly copied one of their songs.

Scott McCullouch, Brian Clover and Billy Smith allege that The Weeknd’s ‘A Lonely Night’ used a key section of ‘I Need To Love’, a 2004 song they recorded in the band Sonic Religion.

Clover, who is originally from Essex, claims that he first heard the song while shopping in Topman.

The track features on ‘Starboy’, The Weeknd’s 2016 album which has sold in excess of three million copies.

Clover claims that the trio had attempted to sell three songs, including ‘I Need To Love’ via a record label in 2016, but the rights were returned after failing to find a buyer.

Only two weeks later, The Weeknd released the album before it went on to be certified double platinum.

“We had the song on hold for a few things like Pop Idol but it never got used so then a label took the song on to flog it but it never got sold”, Clover told the BBC.

“So we got it back…they released the rights of the song to us.”

He added: “We have never had a hit, we have had songs on hold but never got over the line. It is frustrating because it has always been our goal to have our names on an album by an artist.”

The Weeknd has denied the claims.