Jazz star Esperanza Spalding is facing legal action over the cover art for her latest album.

The musician, who famously beat Justin Bieber to the Best New Artist Grammy at the 2011 awards show, has been hit with a $500,000 (£312,500) lawsuit from photographer Kevin Ryan, who claims he failed to receive any credit for images featured on the cover of last year's (12) Radio Music Society, which earned Spalding a 2013 Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy.

The artwork features Spalding sitting atop an '80s-style boombox, which was actually just a wooden box with pictures reportedly taken by Ryan stuck to the front.

Spalding spotted the creative work at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, New York, after Ryan's sculptor pal Ryan Humphrey attached his friend's images to the box and put it on display, according to the New York Post.

Ryan alleges the singer's representatives ignored his request to be given credit for the piece, which has since been recreated as a stage prop and used on fan merchandise, and he is suing for compensation.