Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Turn the Beat Around

First recorded by Vicki Sue Robinson (US #10 1976).
Also recorded by Laura Branigan (1990).
Other hit version by Gloria Estefan (US #13/UK #21 1994).

https://youtu.be/devNnEA0AdU

From the wiki: “”Turn the Beat Around” was written by brothers Gerald and Peter Jackson of the R&B outfit Touch of Class. Vicki Sue Robinson recorded her version on September 26, 1975 cutting her lead vocal in a single take after recording her own multi-tracked chorale vocals.

“Like the other cuts on Robinsons’s debut album Never Gonna Let You Go, ‘Turn the Beat Around’ was recorded at RCA Studios with producer Warren Schatz who recalls the basic master of the song was recorded ‘on a Friday after a very depressing week of rain [and] I hated [the track]! I listened to it in my office and I just couldn’t get it. It had been such a bad week that I just couldn’t hear anything with an open mind. Then David Todd, the head of disco promotion at RCA, came into my office and he went crazy over the track! He convinced me to finish it as soon as possible.’

“Laura Branigan covered the song in 1990. It was released as the third and final single from her self-titled sixth studio album; however, only to radio and clubs. In 1994, the song was recorded by Gloria Estefan for the soundtrack to the film The Specialist. Released as a single, it became a hit reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also featured on Estefan’s fourth solo album Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me.”

Laura Branigan, “Turn the Beat Around” (1990):

Gloria Estefan, “Turn the Beat Around” (1994):

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