Girls on top - Part Two

Slightly different from the original (no pun intended), here are two songs that were released/sung first by a male artist, but made more famous (from an audience distribution version) when a female singer covered them.

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What I find fascinating about Prince--apart from his undisputed unbelievable musical ability, intriguing persona (he's like the Napoleon of the musical industry, isn't he, in a lot of ways), etc.--is that he actually formed a group to have an outlet for all the songs or creativity or musical direction he couldn't express as an individual recording artist at the time, something in direct opposition to what many of his peers were experiencing (i.e. needing to branch off as a solo artist to find an outlet for their overbrimming creativity, like Stevie Nicks did, for example).

Written for The Family and sung by Paul Peterson (aka St. Paul), this song was never released as a single and barely registered...until it was covered by an Irish singer in 1990 and became a world-wide hit.

Nothing compares 2 U - The Family



Nothing Compares 2 U (cover) - Sinead O'Connor





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Okay, so this song did quite well in its original release as a disco hit nationally, but the cover, released barely a year later, is recognized internationally as 'the' disco hit. Sorry boys, but the lady made it to places you've probably never even heard of. Shame, though.

Don't Leave Me This Way - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes

(Yeah, this is my favorite version. I mean, Teddy Pendergrass versus Thelma Houston? Sorry, no contest, even though hers was the only version I knew and loved for a long time.)



Don't Leave Me This Way (cover) - Thelma Houston