We’re not telling porkies – literally all of these songs are covers! (Picture: Rex/Getty)
We’ve all had that feeling: we’re singing along to a favourite song of ours, a song we’ve known for years, and then someone tells you it was actually a cover.
Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You, The Beatles’ Twist and Shout, Adele’s Make You Feel My Love, Amy Winehouse’s Valerie, and Bananarama’s Venus are just some of the most widely known and beloved covers of all time.
But every now and again in pop music, some cover versions can be so much better, and become so much bigger, that people forget the original versions even existed in the first place.
It’s happened more times than you’d think, and some of the most famous recording artists in history have had their original compositions lost to time because a cover version became a phenomenon.
The list below features some of the biggest names of their era, performing some of their best known songs – and every single of them of them is a cover.
Let’s take a look. Let us know if you already knew about some of them.
Torn – Natalie Imbruglia
In 1997, Torn launched Australian actress Natalie Imbruglia’s singing career. It was picked as the lead single from her debut album and immediately shot up the charts worldwide.
Torn reached number two in the UK – held off the top by Aqua’s Barbie Girl for three consecutive weeks – and its music video became one of the most iconic of the era.
However, the song had already been recorded and released in 1993 by Danish singer Lis Sorenson, under the title Brændt (which translates to ‘Burnt’ in English).
Before that Danish recording, Torn had originally been written by trio Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, and Phil Thornalley – Scott reclaimed his own song and recorded it in English with his band Ednaswap in 1995.
Phil then worked with Natalie on her version two years later, sending it to the top of the charts across Europe and starting a pop career for Natalie which lasted another decade, scoring four more top 10 hits in the UK.
Hear the original versions here and here.
Tainted Love – Soft Cell
Did you know one of the biggest, era-defining hits of the 1980s was actually written in 1964? And did you know it was originally recorded by the woman who was in the car with T Rex’s Marc Bolan on the night of his fatal crash?
Well, it’s true!
Tainted Love was first thought up by songwriter Ed Cobb in the mid-60s, 17 years before Soft Cell’s version made it one of the best known hits of the 80s.
Gloria Jones recorded it later that year and released it as a single in 1965, going back in to re-record it with her boyfriend Marc midway through the 1970s – but both versions failed to chart in the UK.
In the late 1970s, Marc Almond of Soft Cell became aware of the song in their home city of Leeds due to its status as a popular Northern soul hit and decided to record their own version. Just a short time later, the song became a worldwide smash and made Soft Cell a household name.
Hear the original versions here and here.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
Yup. Cyndi Lauper’s biggest hit, one of the quintessential 80s tunes, was a cover. Released in 1983, Girls Just Wanna Have fun hit the top 10 all over the world and became one of the top anthems of the era.
Amazingly, though, the song had already been written and recorded four years earlier by singer-songwriter Robert Hazard.
He released a demo that had been produced in 1979 – it showed the that the lyrics were originally written from a male perspective, and that Cyndi had more of a hand in the eventual result than it might have seemed at first.
And the lyrics weren’t the only thing changed in Cyndi’s version, with Robert’s demo sounding more like the power pop and new wave acts of the late 1970s, such as Elvis Costello and Blondie.
Hear the original version here.
Don’t Cha – Pussycat Dolls
Yeah, you’d better believe it. One of the breakout hits of the 2000s, one of the catchiest choruses ever put to tape, the song that launched the pop and TV career of Nicole Scherzinger – a cover!
And not only is it a cover, but that catchy chorus was also lifted from elsewhere too!
First things first, Don’t Cha was written in the early 2000s by Busta Rhymes – who features on the Dolls version – and none other than Cee-Lo Green. They lifted the chorus from a song called Swass, which had been released in the late 1980s by Mr. Big Butts himself, Sir Mix-a-Lot.
In 2004, Tori Alamaze recorded a full version of Don’t Cha before anyone else and released it as a single, but success was only moderate – the song failed to chart anywhere outside the US and even failed to make the Billboard proper.
Tori gave up her rights to the song shortly after.
Don’t Cha was then offered to Sugababes and Paris Hilton, with both acts turning it down. It was then handed to the Pussycat Dolls, who were attempting to make the leap from a burlesque troupe into a pop group, and the rest is history.
Hear the original version here.
Respect – Aretha Franklin
Released in 1967, Respect is one of Aretha Franklin’s best known recordings. The Queen of Soul brings it like nobody else on that song, with her version still one of the most widely celebrated pop songs of all time.
But, in staggering news, an older version of Respect also exists, having been written and recorded by Otis Redding – the King of Soul.
Originally a ballad, Otis was presented with the song’s skeleton in the mid-1960s by a band called the Singing Demons. Otis took that version, changed the lyrics and the tempo, and released it on his 1965 album Otis Blue.
The song was picked up by Aretha Franklin who performed it in her live shows for two years before going into the studio to record her own version – the new version featured gender-swapped lyrics and brand new verses.
Aretha played piano on the new recording and added the famous ‘R-E-S-P-E-C-T’ bridge. The song eventually reached number 10 in the UK.
Hear the original here.
Mickey – Toni Basil
The ultimate cheerleader anthem. A whirlwind of teenage feelings blasted out inside four musical minutes, Mickey flew into the higher reaches of the UK chart in 1982 and became an international hit.
But before its second life as a prep band classic, the song was originally recorded by 70s pop band Racey, whose short-lived success in the UK produced two top 10 hits and a top five album.
Racey’s version might be the original but it does contain some major differences. For one thing, their original was called Kitty, but it also didn’t contain the famous ‘Oh Mickey, you’re so fine’ refrain that made Toni’s version such a huge hit.
Toni’s version was later covered by 90s singer Lolly, which reached number four in the UK charts. (Lolly coincidentally covered Girls Just Wanna Have Fun as well, reaching number 14 with that).
Hear the original version here.
The Best – Tina Turner
Perhaps Tina Turner’s best known hit, The Best has soundtracked sporting accomplishments, awards shows, and weddings for a generation.
The Best rejuvenated Tina’s career in 1989 after a brief lull in sales in the mid-to-late 80s and became her signature tune, eventually going double Platinum in the UK.
But, in a stunning turn of events, it was nearly Bonnie Tyler of all people who might have become known for the song, having recorded the song the year before for her album Hide Your Heart.
Bonnie had just come off the back of huge successes with Total Eclipse of the Heart and Holding Out for a Hero, but the major hits dried up quickly and her version of The Best crashed out at number 95 in the UK chart.
Tina approached one of the song’s writers, Holly Knight, and asked if she could add a bridge and a key change – with Holly’s blessing, The Best was re-recorded for Tina’s album Foreign Affair.
Hear the original here.
It’s My Life – No Doubt
No, not the Bon Jovi song. A different one.
No Doubt and their lead singer Gwen Stefani broke out in the mid-90s with a double-whammy of hit singles, Just a Girl and No Doubt – their ska-tinged alternative rock sound was perfect for the era.
But by the early 2000s, their chart successes in the UK were dwindling slightly and Gwen was preparing to go solo, recording her own material away from the band’s other members.
With the group on the verge of splitting, they released It’s My Life as one last hurrah and it proved to be their biggest hit for years, reaching the top 10 in the States and the top 20 in the UK.
However, the song had been transported in time from 1984, when it was originally written and released by new wave and progressive pop band Talk Talk – the song had just missed the top 40 in the UK back then, peaking at 46.
It peaked at number 13 when it was re-released in 1990, but Talk Talk remained best known for their song Life’s What You Make It and a series of seminal rock albums in the late 80s after abandoning the pop world altogether.
Hear the original here.
Waiting for Tonight – Jennifer Lopez
Before she was Jenny From the Block and telling us her Love Don’t Cost a Thing, Jennifer Lopez’s career in the 1990s took a sudden pivot to pure dance pop and it worked a treat.
Waiting for Tonight reached the top five in the UK in 1999 and was a huge hit in America as well, with the song also performing impressively around the world, quickly making J-Lo a household name.
But Waiting for Tonight came to J-Lo from another pop group, 3rd Party, who had recorded the song two years prior for their debut album. From that album 3rd Party released two singles, neither of which were Waiting for Tonight, and disbanded shortly after.
Their song was picked up by J-Lo’s team in the aftermath and she made it the hit it is today.
Hear the original here.
She’s the One – Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams was on top of the world around the turn of the millennium, and he was perhaps no bigger than when his ballad She’s the One flew to the very top of the UK charts to give him his second number one.
It won British single of the year at the 2000 Brit Awards and won a Capital Radio Award for best single too, becoming one of his defining recordings after leaving Take That and going solo.
However, She’s the One was a cover all along, having been originally written and performed by Karl Wallinger of the band World Party in 1997. The song was released on the band’s fourth album, Egyptology.
Wallinger, who had previously been a member of The Waterboys, was angered by Robbie’s public claims that he’d written the song himself, and accused the Let Me Entertain You singer of ‘stealing’ the hit from him.
During a live radio broadcast in 2001, he sang a new version of the song, with new lyrics: ‘If there’s somebody stealing my song, he’s the one.’
She’s the One’s original World Party version received renewed attention in the UK when Wallinger sadly died in March 2024, aged 66.
Hear the original here.
Something I Need – Ben Haenow
In 2014, Ben Haenow became the last X Factor champions to secure a number one hit with his winner’s single, claiming the Christmas chart topper that year with Something I Need.
Now, X Factor winners covering songs to launch their singing career is a tale as old as time. Only Strictly Come Dancing contestant Shayne Ward released an original song as his debut single – That’s My Goal – after winning the competition.
Leona Lewis, Sam Bailey, Alexandra Burke, Leon Jackson, and even Steve Brookstein – all of them released covers to get to the top of the charts with their debut release.
And Ben Haenow carried on that tradition by covering a song which had been written and released by OneRepublic in 2013. Ryan Tedder and The X Factor’s Simon Cowell had a close working relationship from the mid-2000s onwards.
Something I Need was originally included on OneRepublic’s album Native, which featured singles Counting Stars and Love Runs Out, but only reached number 78 in the UK when it was released as a single.
Hear the original here.
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