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Artists That Turned Down Hit Songs


VirginiaHamilton

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After Max mentioned that he'd initially thought that Madonna had sung "Looking For a New Love" by Jody Watley, this actually reminded me of the songs that artists turned down/were passed over for that ended up being huge hits.

While I'd already known about Christina Milian turning down S.O.S., which was passed on to Rihanna and ended up a big hit, I hadn't known that the following artists turned down these...

  • TLC - turned down "...Baby One More Time" which ended up putting Britney Spears on the map
  • Rod Stewart - was originally supposed to sing "Dim All The Lights" but Donna Summer loved it so much that she kept it for herself

  • Appollonia 6 - was supposed to sing "The Glamorous Life" which ended up giving Sheila E. her breakout hit. They were also supposed to sing "Manic Monday", but Prince handed it over to The Bangles instead

  • Anita Baker - turned down "Love Should've Brought You Home" which ended up putting Toni Braxton on the map

  • Janet Jackson - was originally supposed to sing "How Will I Know" but Clive Davis decided that Whitney Houston should sing it instead

  • Britney Spears - turned down "Umbrella" which resulted in Jay-Z's plan for Rihanna's pop stardom finally becoming realized

  • Mary Wilson - turned down "Holiday" which ended up being a beloved Madonna classic

  • Patti Labelle - turned down:

  1. "If You Don't Know Me By Now" (though I'm not sure if this was the original Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes version or the Simply Red remake)
  2. "Oh Me, Oh My (I'm a Fool for You, Baby) which ended up being a hit for Aretha Franklin
  3. "I Feel Good All Over" which ended up being a hit for Stephanie Mills
  4. "Rush Rush" which ended up being a hit for Paula Abdul
  5. "Nobody's Supposed To Be Here" which ended up being the biggest hit of Deborah Cox's career
  • Gerald Levert - turned down "I Swear" which ended up being the biggest hit of All-4-One's career
  • Dionne Warwick - turned down "What The World Needs Now Is Love", which ended up being a huge hit for Jackie DeShannon
  • Pink - wanted to sing "Beautiful" but Linda Perry turned her down and gave it to Christina Aguilera
  • Chante Moore - didn't actually turn down "Weak" but the songwriter was too embarrassed to pass the song that he'd originally written about her to her so he'd handed it over to SWV, making it the biggest hit of their career
  • Whitney Houston - was originally supposed to sing "Love Will Lead You Back", but Clive Davis opted to have Taylor Dayne sing it instead
  • Roberta Flack - turned down "You Give Good Love" which ended up being a big hit for Whitney Houston
  • Michael Jackson - turned down "La Isla Bonita" which ended up being a huge hit for Madonna
  • Aretha Franklin - turned down "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" which ended up putting Natalie Cole on the map

Anyone, feel free to add to the list of big misses of big hits...

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-1972 "Ben". Originally written for Donny Osmond, the song went to Michael Jackson because Osmond was on tour and wasn't available to record it. This song became Jackson's first solo #1 hit.

-1983 "Holiday". This was originally offered to Phyllis Hyman and then Mary Wilson, but both turned it down. The song has since become known as a classic Madonna track and helped boost her popularity when she was just breaking into the business.

-1998 "...Baby One More Time". Originally entitled "Hit Me Baby One More Time", the song was offered to TLC but the group turned it down because they had already completed their album FanMail. The song was then given to Britney Spears and we all know it launched her career (oops didn't see it was already posted lol)

-2008 or earlier (not sure about the date) "Telephone". Lady Gaga wrote the song and gave it to Britney Spears, who never ended up using it for her album. Gaga took the song back and made it a duet with Beyonce Knowles, which turned out to be a monster smash for the both of them.

-Umbrella - Mary J. Blige passed, Rihanna sung it and it became an international hit.

Mary J Blige's Rainy Dayz was for TLC.

Toxic was written for Kylie Minogue who passed and it was given to Britney Spears.

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  • Michael Jackson - turned down "Rock Your Body" which ended up being a hit for Justin Timberlake
  • Pink & Hilary Duff - turned down "Since U Been Gone" which ended up being a huge hit for Kelly Clarkson
  • Janet Jackson - turned down "I'm a Slave 4 U" which ended up being a hit for Britney Spears
  • Stevie Nicks - turned down "Call Me" which ended up being a hit for Blondie
  • Whitney Houston - turned down "Waiting on a Star to Fall" which ended up being Boy Meets Girl's only hit
  • Diana Ross - turned down "It's Raining Men" which ended up being The Weather Girls' biggest hit
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Cyndi Lauper turned down Open Your Heart, back when it was called Follow your Heart. The song was given to Madonna, who modified the song along with Patrick Leonnard... changing the song from a rock song to a dance-rock song and renaming it Open Your Heart.

I believe Tina Turner turned down Don't Turn Around, which turned out to be a huge hit for Ace of Base back in 1994.

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Kylie Mingoue related, apparently a number of artists turned down Can't Get You Outa My Head.

Kylie's 2000 "comeback" single (huge hit everywhere but N America of course) Spinning Around was turned down by Paula Abdul which is why she has a writing credit even though apparently she just wrote a few lines (and the song was largely re-written for Kylie anyway.)

And Kylie turned down Britney's Toxic, though she said it sounded fairly different in demo. I guess that's common to many of these--they prob sounded different in demo (though sometimes the demos sound basically the same.) I know for instance when Bacharach/David offered Dionne Warwick WHat The World Needs Now it sounded more, she claims, like their country tinged singles they had been writing for Gene Pitney and other male vocalists (24 Hours from Tulsa, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, etc.) SHe was insanely mad--I guess she had a temper even then--when she heard the DeShannon recording because she said--and fair enough--that it had the Bacharach/David/Warwick formula exactly.

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This is such a great thread.

The Marvelettes (who had Motown's first #1 hit with "Please Mr. Postman") were originally given "Where Did Our Love Go." But the group's lead singer, Gladys Horton, refused to sing it because she hated the lines of the song that went "baby, baby." It was given to the Supremes, and it became the first of their twelve #1 hits. However, prior to the success they had with this song, that group was in no position to complain about any song they had given to them, as others at Motown mocked them as the "No-Hit Supremes."

While this is a slightly different topic, Dion & the Belmonts' signature song--"A Teenager in Love"--was originally given to a group called the Mystics (who would later score a modest hit with "Hushabye"). However, somebody insisted that the song be handed to a more well-known group.

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Luther Vandross turned down 'Save the Best for Last' before Vanessa Williams was given it

'Flashdance...What a Feeling' was initially recorded by Joe Esposito, then was offered to Olivia Newton-John before Irene Cara recorded it

'Breathe' was offered to Reba McEntire before it became a hit for Faith Hill

A different case here, but Seal's 'Kiss from a Rose' was originally recorded for the soundtrack of Disclosure, but Warner Bros. got cold feet about putting a romantic song in such a controversial film so they put it in Batman Forever instead

Toni Braxton's comeback single 'He Wasn't Man Enough' was originally recorded by Tina Turner for HER comeback album but she didn't like how it turned out so it was given to Toni

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I've read that the original version of "The Loco-Motion" (performed by Little Eva) was intended for Dee Dee Sharp (who declined). However, I have also read accounts that this story is just an urban myth.

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And Moroder has confirmed it was written for Donna Summer--but this was at the time she was on Geffen who was trying to get her a (his words) "black" non dance audience (he had earlier scraped her entire double album with Moroder, later released in demo form 15 years later as I'm a Rainbow.) He's also said he had hoped, five or so years later, she would record Take My Breath Away.

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The Fleetwood's second #1 hit, "Mr. Blue," was originally intended for the Platters. While the Platters didn't actually turn it down, the song's writer was unable to reach them.

Most definately, Eric. This "cover" trend seemed to reach a peak in the mid-50s.

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I read that songwriter Jerry Fuller wrote Travelin Man and it was offered to Sam Cooke. Sam's manager rejected the song and it was then given to Ricky Nelson. It became one of his biggest hits and topped the charts for several weeks in 1961. Ozzie did a film sequence on the family show with Rick singing the song and one of the first music video's was born.

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