Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Bossa Nova Baby

First recorded by Tippie & the Clovers (1962).
Hit version by Elvis Presley (US #8/R&B #20/UK #13 1963).

From the wiki: “‘Bossa Nova Baby’ was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (‘Kansas City’, ‘Hound Dog‘, ‘Ruby Baby‘, ‘Jailhouse Rock’). Even though the song would go on to become a huge promotional hit for the Elvis Presley movie, Fun in Acapulco, its origin had nothing to do with ‘fun’ or with ‘Acapulco’. It was initially given by Leiber-Stoller to The Clovers, who had had past success (‘Love Potion No. 9’) with the songwriters, to record.

“The break-up of original Clovers in 1961 resulted in the creation of two new groups: The Fabulous Clovers, featuring John ‘Buddy’ Bailey, which continued recording for Atlantic Records; the other, with the introduction of Roosevelt ‘Tippie’ Hubbard, became Tippie & the Clovermen, who would go on to record for Leiber and Stoller’s new Tiger Records label. In December 1962 ‘Bossa Nova Baby’ was released credited to Tippie & the Clovers. Their recording had no apparent chart success.

“When Leiber-Stoller were then tasked with contributing a song for Elvis Presley’s new motion picture feature, they offered him ‘Bossa Nova Baby’. It was recorded by Presley in January 1963 for the soundtrack of Fun in Acapulco, and was subsequently released as the lead promotional single. Presley’s cover reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart in 1963. It also reached #13 in the UK Singles chart.”

Elvis Presley, “Bossa Nova Baby” (1963):

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