Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

Help support this site! Consider clicking an ad from time to time. Thanks!

 
« Go Back to Previous Page «  

Tagged: Jefferson Starship

Count on Me

Written and first recorded by Jesse Barish (1978).
Hit version by Jefferson Starship (US #8/MOR #15/CAN #9/NZ #24 1978).
Re-recorded by Marty Balin (1999).

From the wiki: “‘Count On Me’ was a 1978 song and single by Jefferson Starship for the album Earth, written and first recorded by songwriter Jesse Barish. The Jefferson Starship single gave Starship their second US Top-10 hit of the ‘Seventies, after their 1975 hit ‘Miracles’.

“Barish played flute with the seminal experimental band The Orkustra in San Francisco in the mid 60’s and also played flute with ‘Papa’ John Phillips on Phillip’s Wolf King of L.A. tour. In 1971 Jesse was signed to Shelter Records by Denny Cordell and released the album Jesse, Wolff and Whings with guitarist Billy Wolff and drummer Kevin Kelly. Landing in Marin County in the early ’70s, Jesse became friends with Marty Balin who would go on to record ‘Count On Me’ later in 1978 with Jefferson Starship (among other songs) and, in 1980, wrote ‘Hearts’ for Balin’s first solo album for EMI Records.

Set the Night to Music

First recorded by Starship (MOR #9 1987).
Hit version by Roberta Flack & Maxi Priest (US #6/MOR #2/CAN #9 1989).

From the wiki: “‘Set the Night to Music’ was written by Diane Warren (Laura Brnaigan’s ‘Solitaire‘, Aerosmith’s ‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’), the first songwriter in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have had seven hits, all by different artists, on the singles chart at the same time.

“‘Set the Night to Music’ was originally recorded by Starship for their 1987 album No Protection. It was then covered in 1989 by Roberta Flack as a duet with Maxi Priest, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.”