An original, a cover, and a song another artist covered - all hits

Inspired by the Springsteen poll. Obv Bruce had lots of hits with songs he wrote & performed. He wrote "Because the Night," a Top 40 hit for Patti Smith. And Bruce's cover of "War" was a Top 10 hit.

I can only think of 2 other artists of who meets all 3 criteria, the Beatles and Willie Nelson.

The Beatles: originals, check; cover ("Twist & Shout"), check; "With a Little Help From My Friends," a hit for Joe Cocker.

Willie: original - "Mamas Don't Let You Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys"; cover ("Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain" and many more); "Crazy," a hit for Patty Cline.

Others? I'm sure there must be others.

The Rolling Stones:

had lots of hit singles that they wrote themselves, wrote 'As Tears Go By', a hit for Marianne Faithfull, and had a UK No1 single with 'Little Red Rooster', written by Willie Dixon.

Nilsson?

nilsson.

wrote a handful of hits for himself, including the top 10 "coconut." also hit the top 10 with covers of badfinger and fred neil. and wrote a top fiver for three dog night.

ha!

Bowie - lots by himself, "All The Young Dudes" and "China Girl" (or the whole of Pinups if you prefer).

Actually Cathy Dennis has done this: lots/lots/Waterloo Sunset.

warren zevon.

according to the singles charts, in fact, zevon did exactly that and nothing else. if i'm not mistaken he had exactly three chart credits: his own "werewolves of london," his cover of ernie k-doe's "a certain girl," and linda ronstadt's cover of his "poor poor pitiful me."

probably dozens of others!

but if you want to make the answer springsteen and only springsteen, add a fourth criterion: had his name turned into a hit song by someone else.

I knew the ilx hive mind would come through. I went down the Prince, Dylan, Neil Young road but I don't think they had covers that we're hits. The Byrds maybe another one if any of their originals were hits as covers.

Bananarama. Lots of covers, a couple of their own, plus "Young At Heart" by the Bluebells.

In the UK, the beatles only had "Baby it's you" as a cover hit

Phil Collins
cover hit: You Can't Hurry Love
covered hit: Against All Odds (for Westlife & Mariah), 'Another Day In Paradise' (Jam Tronik, Brandy & Ray J)

Whitney Houston
cover hit: I'm Every Woman
covered hit: I Will Always Love You (Rik Waller)

Madonna
cover hit: Don't Cry For Me Argentina
covered hit: Papa Don't Preach (Kelly Osbourne)

The Bangles
cover hit: Going Down To Liverpool, Hazy Shade Of Winter
covered hit: Eternal Flame (Atomic Kitten)

I will always love you was not a Whitney song though.
I thought britney could qualify but I don't think she had a covered hit.

elvis costello
cover: i can't stand up for falling down /peace love and understanding
covered hit: alison (UK single for EC and US hit for Linda Ronstadt)

The cover/covered thing has definitely been a thread before. I don't think it stipulated "had their own hits too", though.

Yeah, the 'covered' one (the different artist) has to be one not a hit for the orig artist.

BLondie is a confusing one.

"Hanging on the telephone" was written by a band member, but he'd left, but they asked him if they could still do it and have a big hit and lots of royalties for him etc, obv he said yes..

Then again, "Heart of Glass" Original, "Denis" = cover, "One way or another" One Direction...

xp cool wasn't sure about that, does make it a worthwhile challenge

A song called "Bruce Springsteen" btw? Who(m)?

I assume he's referring to Rick Springfield's "Bruce," which is about interviewers confusing him with Springsteen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW1Frr4OcRc

Pet Shop Boys

Covers: It's Alright / Where the Streets Have No Name? / Go West / Always On My Mind
Covered: West End Girls (East 17) plus loads of others (Liza Minelli, Eighth Wonder etc) that might not strictly count as covers.

'Hanging on the Telephone' was written by Jack Lee, who was never a member of Blondie

I assumed it was a reference to Eric Church's "Springsteen" (xps)

Depending how strict you're being on 'named after' and if it's alright to not be the whole title, Madonna meets all 4 as well, at least in the UK where Robbie Williams' "She's Madonna" was a hit.

Olive

Original "Outlaw"
Cover "I'm Not In Love" (10CC)
Covered "You're Not Alone" (ATB)

'Hanging on the Telephone' was written by Jack Lee, who was never a member of Blondie

― Ward Fowler, Friday, 8 March 2013 14:21 (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ah, it seems I am thinking of "(I'm always touched by your) Presence Dear"

George Harrison
Original: "What Is Life"
Cover: "Got My Mind Set On You" (James Ray)
Covered: "My Sweet Lord" (Billy Preston)

John Lennon
Original: "Give Peace A Chance"
Cover: "Stand By Me" (Ben E. King)
Covered: "Jealous Guy" (Roxy Music)

add a fourth criterion: had his name turned into a hit song by someone else.

did she write?

Remix:

George Harrison
Original: "My Sweet Lord"
Cover: "Got My Mind Set On You" (James Ray)
Covered: "What Is Life" (Olivia Newton John)

I assumed it was a reference to Eric Church's "Springsteen"

yes indeed. (rick springfield song disqualified on account of not bring a hit. unless it was in australia or something.)

billy joel (covered bob dylan, covered by garth brooks, obvi had lots of hits of his own)

cat stevens (covered sam cooke, covered by many like for example mr. big, obvi had lots of hits of his own)

elton john (covered the beatles and the who, covered by ... actually it has hard to find a good hit elton cover! .. but we'll say ellie goulding, obvi had lots of hits of his own)

surely Joan Jett must have done this

Elvis Presley
covered: Big Mama Thornton, "Hound Dog"
covered by: UB40, "Can't Help Falling in Love"

Jackson 5
covered: Jackson Browne, "Doctor My Eyes" (apparently a hit in the UK)
covered by: Mariah Carey, "I'll Be There"

The KLF:
Cover: Doctorin' The Tardis
Covered by Scooter

Come to think of it, Scooter has scored 40+ hits with "covers", that has to include a few more. Supertramp? Status Quo?

Michael Jackson
cover hit: Rockin Robin (Bobby Day)
covered hit: Smooth Criminal (Alien Ant Farm)

stevie wonder
cover hit: we can work it out (beatles)
covered hit: uh, higher ground (red hot chili peppers)? there must be a ton more.

The Troggs
cover hit: Wild Thing (The Wild Ones)
covered hit: Love Is All Around (Wet Wet Wet)

chuck berry:

original: many
cover: 'my ding-a-ling'
covered: beatles cover of 'roll over beethoven,' beach boys cover of 'rock and roll music'

Neil Diamond:
original: "Sweet Caroline"
cover: "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (The Hollies)
covered: "I'm A Believer" (Monkees), "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" (Urge Overkill), etc.

I was thinking about Bo Diddley, but the only example of a hit "cover" isn't really a cover, strictly speaking: Willie Dixon wrote "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover," but it was essentially written for (and first recorded by) Bo.

That said, obvious original hits, shit-ton of hit covers by others (credited and otherwise).

Roberta Flack:

Cover hit: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (Peggy Seeger)
Original hit: "Feel Like Makin' Love"
Covered hit: "Killing Me Softly with His Song" (covered by the Fugees)

All three were Billboard #1 hits for Flack, and the Fugees version went to #2 spot.