5 Great Songs Written By Prince And Performed By Other Artists, From Cyndi Lauper To Martika

Robbie Daw | April 21, 2016 6:53 pm

During his lifetime, Prince was highly prolific, having turned out 39 studio albums between 1978 and 2015, not to mention a string of 19 Top 10 singles. Yet the Minneapolis-born musician also managed to pen some well-known songs that became hits for other artists.

In the wake of his unexpected death today (April 21) at the age of 57, we rounded up a handful of these songs made famous by other acts. See they’re ones you realized were actually written by Prince.

Cyndi Lauper, “When You Were Mine” (1983)

Prince’s own version of “When You Were Mine” was an album track on his third studio release, Dirty Mind. But it was arguably Cyndi Lauper’s synthed-up rendition of the song, recorded for her multi-Platinum debut LP She’s So Unusual, that made it well known around the world.

Lauper’s version of “When You Were Mine” was only ever released as a single in Canada and Japan, though her 1985 American Music Awards performance of it (watch above) remains a highlight of her 1980s glory days.

Sheila E., “The Glamorous Life” (1984)

Shortly after Cyndi Lauper released her cover of “When You Were Mine,” Prince co-wrote and produced the song “The Glamorous Life” for his protege Sheila Escovedo, better known as Sheila E. The song became a Top 10 hit for the world-renowned, Grammy-nominated singer/percussionist in 1984, and just one of her many collaborations with Prince over the decades.

Coming full circle with our roundup, Sheila went on to play drums on Cyndi Lauper’s 2003 covers album, At Last.

The Bangles, “Manic Monday” (1986)

The year 1986 saw the release of the second film Prince starred in, Under The Cherry Moon. His character’s name was Christopher, which would end up being the pseudonym used in the writing credits for “Manic Monday,” a track Prince submitted to The Bangles for their sophomore album.

“Manic Monday” became the first of several Top 5 singles for the band in 1986, and along with “Walk Like An Egyptian,” remains one of the Bangles’ signature songs. See that? Not all Mondays are bad.

Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U” (1990)

After gaining critical acclaim for her debut LP The Lion And The Cobra in 1987, Irish singer Sinead O’Connor was faced with the slippery slope in pop of avoiding the dreaded sophomore slump. She managed to do so by recording a cover of The Family‘s little-known, Prince-written 1985 song “Nothing Compares 2 U.” It became one of the first chart-topping singles of 1990s throughout the globe, but as O’Connor tells it, Prince wasn’t too thrilled with her.

“He summoned me to his house after ‘Nothing Compares 2 U.’ I made it without him,” O’Connor recalled in 2014. “I’d never met him. He summoned me to his house — and it’s foolish to do this to an Irish woman — he said he didn’t like me saying bad words in interviews. So I told him to fuck off.”

Martika, “Love… They Will Be Done” (1991)

Martika had a less tempestuous relationship with Prince than O’Connor, as the two of them wrote the smash “Love… Thy Will Be Done” together. Released in summer 1991, the song became Martika’s second Top 10 single, following her late ’80s chart-topper “Toy Soldiers.”

Sadly, it was to be the singer’s final hit, and she soon left the pop scene. “[I] just pulled away from the spotlight, the jet-set pace at the time, and really needed to have a bit more of a personal life,” Martika told Idolator in 2011. “And that held me from the public eye. I never performed another Martika set after I finished promoting [sophomore album] Martika’s Kitchen.”

More:: Revisit 5 *More* Great Songs Written By Prince That Were Made Famous By Others

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