diff --git a/bundles/org.openhab.binding.sonos/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/sonos/internal/SonosEntry.java b/bundles/org.openhab.binding.sonos/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/sonos/internal/SonosEntry.java
index e950b90f3591d..6acea10587e79 100644
--- a/bundles/org.openhab.binding.sonos/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/sonos/internal/SonosEntry.java
+++ b/bundles/org.openhab.binding.sonos/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/sonos/internal/SonosEntry.java
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@
 
 import java.io.Serializable;
 
-import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringEscapeUtils;
 import org.eclipse.jdt.annotation.NonNullByDefault;
 import org.eclipse.jdt.annotation.Nullable;
+import org.openhab.binding.sonos.internal.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
  * The {@link SonosEntry} is a datastructure to describe
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ public String getAlbum() {
      * @return the URI for the album art.
      */
     public String getAlbumArtUri() {
-        return StringEscapeUtils.unescapeXml(albumArtUri);
+        return StringUtils.unEscapeXml(albumArtUri);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/bundles/org.openhab.binding.sonos/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/sonos/internal/util/StringUtils.java b/bundles/org.openhab.binding.sonos/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/sonos/internal/util/StringUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4127a3d11d38a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bundles/org.openhab.binding.sonos/src/main/java/org/openhab/binding/sonos/internal/util/StringUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2010-2023 Contributors to the openHAB project
+ *
+ * See the NOTICE file(s) distributed with this work for additional
+ * information.
+ *
+ * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
+ * terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0 which is available at
+ * http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
+ */
+package org.openhab.binding.sonos.internal.util;
+
+/**
+ * The {@link StringUtils} class defines some static string utility methods
+ *
+ * @author Leo Siepel - Initial contribution
+ */
+public class StringUtils {
+
+    /**
+     * Simple method to un escape XML special characters in String.
+     * There are five XML Special characters which needs to be escaped :
+     * & - &
+     * < - &lt;
+     * > - &gt;
+     * " - &quot;
+     * ' - &apos;
+     */
+    public static String unEscapeXml(String xml) {
+        xml = xml.replaceAll("&amp;", "&");
+        xml = xml.replaceAll("&lt;", "<");
+        xml = xml.replaceAll("&gt;", ">");
+        xml = xml.replaceAll("&quot;", "\"");
+        xml = xml.replaceAll("&apos;", "'");
+        return xml;
+    }
+}