11 Artists Who've Covered Decades-Old Songs, But Made Them So "Their Own," You'd Never Even Know They Were Covers
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1."Lady Marmalade" — Labelle (1974)/Lil' Kim, Pink, Christina Aguilera, and Mýa (2001)
This iconic early '00s collab, recorded for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack, won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2002. But "Lady Marmalade" was also a huge hit in the '70s as well. It was first released in 1974 by the funk-soul girl group Labelle, with Patti LaBelle on lead vocals.
You can listen to Labelle's version here:
And you can hear Lil' Kim, Pink, Christina Aguilera, and Mýa's take on the song here:
2."It's My Life" — Talk Talk (1984)/No Doubt (2003)
When No Doubt took a break in 2003 so Gwen Stefani could work on her solo album, the band was on the verge of releasing an album of "greatest hits." In order to promote the album, they wanted to release a song, and they thought a cover song would save them time. They decided on Talk Talk's "It's My Life," a song they chose because it was "feel-good," and it ended up becoming a huge success.
Talk Talk's 1984 version was a fairly big hit as well, peaking at No. 31 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
You can hear Talk Talk's version here:
And you can hear No Doubt's here:
3."Heart of Glass" — Blondie (1978)/Miley Cyrus (2020)
After Miley Cyrus first performed her cover of "Heart of Glass" at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in 2020, fans quickly became obsessed and demanded she release the song officially. She did, and the song became super popular, even becoming part of a TikTok trend.
The original version was released in 1978 by new wave band Blondie. Despite die-hard Blondie fans accusing the band of "selling out to disco" by releasing this song, it was a massive success. Fast-forward to the 21st century, and "Heart of Glass" has been on countless "best of" lists and is considered to be one of the greatest songs of all time.
You can listen to Blondie's version here:
And you can hear Miley's version here:
4."Blister in the Sun" — Violent Femmes (1983)/Trixie Mattel (2021)
In a sort of homage to her hometown of Milwaukee, Trixie Mattel recorded a cover of "Blister in the Sun," which was originally released by the folk punk band, and Milwaukee natives, Violent Femmes in 1983.
Trixie, who released the song about a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, said, "To me, 'Blister' is a love song to Milwaukee. Also, I heard it's about masturbation which after 2020 has never been more relevant."
You can listen to Violent Femmes' version here:
And you can hear Trixie's take on the song here:
5."Moon River" — Audrey Hepburn (1961)/Frank Ocean (2018)
Frank Ocean released his version of "Moon River" on his Tumblr in 2018. It reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, making it the fifth version of the song to chart on Billboard.
But the song was originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's. It won an Oscar for Best Original Song and multiple Grammy awards.
You can listen to Audrey's version of the song here:
And you can hear Frank's take here:
6."I Think We're Alone Now" — Tommy James & the Shondells (1967)/Tiffany (1987)
Tiffany's version of "I Think We're Alone Now" had a bit of a resurgence recently, thanks to a 2019 episode of The Umbrella Academy, but even when it first came out in 1987, the song was huge. It spent two weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The original version was recorded by Tommy James & the Shondells 20 years earlier, and although it charted, too, it never reached No. 1.
You can listen to Tommy James & the Shondells' version here:
And you can hear Tiffany's version here:
7."I'm a Believer" — The Monkees (1966)/Smash Mouth (2001)
Smash Mouth recorded a cover of "I'm a Believer" in 2001 for the soundtrack to the movie Shrek, forever linking the two together. But decades prior, in 1966, The Monkees released the original Neil Diamond-written song. It peaked at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for seven weeks.
You can listen to The Monkees' version here:
And you can hear Smash Mouth's take on the song here:
8."I Will Always Love You" — Dolly Parton (1973)/Whitney Houston (1992)
Whitney Houston covered "I Will Always Love You" for her 1992 film The Bodyguard. It's a Grammy award-winning song and also the best-selling single by a female artist in the US. But back in 1973, Dolly Parton, the song's writer and original singer had her own success with the song, peaking at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
You can hear Dolly perform her version here:
And you can listen to Whitney's version here:
9."Killing Me Softly with His Song" — Lori Lieberman (1972)/Fugees and Ms. Lauryn Hill (1996)
Although made famous — and hugely successful — by Roberta Flack, "Killing Me Softly with His Song" was originally recorded by singer-songwriter Lori Lieberman and released in 1972. The song didn't chart, but considering it kind of has some drama attached to it, it makes sense.
In 1996, after Fugees released their cover, the song became so popular that the group took it off the shelves so people would pay attention to their next single, "Ready or Not."
You can hear Lori's version here:
You can listen to Fugees' version here:
10."What a Man"/ "Whatta Man" — Linda Lyndell (1968)/Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue (1993)
Linda Lyndell, a white R&B singer who sang backup for James Brown and Ike and Tina Turner, released "What a Man" in 1968. Unfortunately, the success of the song was overshadowed when she started receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan for "singing Black music," and she retired from performing.
In the '90s, Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue came out with a rap version of the song which became a hugely successful hit. Linda was completely unaware of the cover, and didn't even find out until she got her first royalty check. Hearing the cover inspired her to end her retirement, and in 2003, she performed her version of the song live for the first time ever.
You can hear Linda's original version here:
And here's Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue's version:
11.And finally, "Believe in Yourself"/"Wonderful Everyday" — Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers (1996)/Chance the Rapper (2014)
In 2014, Chance the Rapper started performing "Wonderful Everyday," the theme song to the PBS show Arthur, live at his shows. That same year, he released an official cover on his SoundCloud. A few years later in 2017, he performed it on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert alongside Jon Batiste and Ziggy Marley, the song's original singer.
