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 tit.