The Troggs

"Love Is All Around" is a song composed by Reg Presley and originally performed by Presley's band, The Troggs, in D-major in 1967. Purportedly inspired by a television transmission of the Joy Strings Salvation Army band's "Love That's All Around",^[1][2] the song was first released as a single in the UK in October 1967. On the UK Singles Chart, the record debuted at No.50 on 18 October 1967, peaked at No.5 on 22 November 1967, and spent 15 weeks on chart. On the US Billboard Hot 100, the record entered at No.98 on 24 February 1968, peaking at No.7 on 18 May 1968, and spending a total of 16 weeks on the chart. This version features a string quartet and a 'tick tock' sound on percussion.
"Love is All Around" has been covered by numerous artists, including R.E.M., with whom the Troggs subsequently recorded their 1992 comeback album Athens Andover. R.E.M.'s cover was a B-side on their 1991 "Radio Song" single, and they also played it during their first appearance at MTV's Unplugged series that same year. Wet Wet Wet's cover, for the soundtrack to the 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral, was an international hit and spent 15 weeks at number one in the UK Singles Chart.



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Robert Palmer

"Mercy Mercy Me/I Want You"
 A cover of two Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me" and "I Want You" singles
Song Writers: "Mercy Mercy Me" (Marvin Gaye) / "I Want You" (Arthur "T-Boy" Ross, Leon Ware)
Album : "Don't Explain" (1990)

"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" was the second single from Marvin Gaye's 1971 album, What's Going On. Following the breakthrough of the title track's success, the song, written solely by Gaye, became one of his most poignant anthems of sorrow regarding the environment. Led by Gaye playing piano, strings conducted by Paul Riser, multi-tracking vocals from Gaye, the instrumentals provided by The Funk Brothers and a leading sax solo by Wild Bill Moore, the song rose to #4 on Billboard's Pop Singles chart and #1 for two weeks on the R&B singles charts on August 14 through to August 27, 1971.^[1]
As the single became his second million seller from What's Going On, the album started on the soul album charts in the top five and began charging up the pop rankings. "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" soon became one of Gaye's most famous songs in his extensive catalogue. In 2002 it was his third single recording to win a "Grammy Hall of Fame" Award. Like "Inner City Blues", Bob Babbitt, not James Jamerson, plays the bass line.

"I Want You" is the thirteenth studio album by American soul musician Marvin Gaye, released March 16, 1976, on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place throughout 1975 and 1976 at Motown Recording Studios, also known as Hitsville West, and Gaye's personal studio Marvin's Room in Los Angeles, California. The album has often been noted by critics for producer Leon Ware's exotic, low-key production and the erotic, sexual themes in his and Gaye's songwriting. The album's cover artwork adapts neo-mannerist artist Ernie Barnes's famous painting The Sugar Shack (1971).
I Want You consisted of Marvin Gaye's first recorded studio material since his highly successful and well-received album Let's Get It On (1973). While it marked a change in musical direction for Gaye, departing from his trademark Motown and doo-wop-influenced sound for funky, light-disco soul, the album maintained and expanded on his previous work's sexual themes. Following an initial mixed response from critics, I Want You has earned retrospective recognition from writers and music critics as one of Gaye's most controversial works and influential to such musical styles as disco, quiet storm, R&B, and neo soul.

Michael Jackson

"You Rock My World"
A song  by Michael Jackson  from his tenth and final studio album Invincible (2001).
It was released as the lead single from the album in August 2001 by Epic Records. The lyrics pertain to being in love and trying to gain a woman's affection. Produced by Jackson and Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and written by Jackson, Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels and Nora Payne, the song is musically a disco pop song with influences from Jackson's songs from his previous studio albums with Quincy Jones.
The song received mixed reviews from music critics, with reviewers commenting that Jackson could have made a better effort for it and that it was not his best material, while other reviewers generally praised the song's composition and Jackson's vocal performance. "You Rock My World" was commercially successful worldwide and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Jackson's first top ten single in the United States in over six years, and his last in the country for the remainder of his career. "You Rock My World" topped the French music chart for three consecutive weeks. It also reached the top ten in Australia, Austrian, Canada, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Swedish, Swiss and the United Kingdom music charts.
As part of promotion for the song, a music video was released. The video, which is fourteen minutes long, was directed by Paul Hunter and features Chris Tucker. In the video, Jackson and Tucker portray men who are trying to gain a woman's affection. The video has been compared to Jackson's previous videos, "Smooth Criminal" and "The Way You Make Me Feel", and has received mixed reviews. The song was performed only twice by Jackson; at Madison Square Garden in New York City at two concerts in September 2001 to celebrate Jackson's career as a solo artist. Footage of the performance was shown in the two-hour CBS television special, Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special. The track was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 44th Grammy Awards.



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Prince

"Sign o' the Times" (also stylized as "Sign “☮” the Times")
The lead single off Prince's 1987 album of the same name. The song is a holdover from both the Dream Factory and Crystal Ball projects, promoted to the title track of the 1987 release. Prince performs the entire track except for some backing vocals by then-girlfriend Susannah Melvoin. "Sign o' the Times" was written on a Sunday, when Prince usually wrote his most introspective songs. The song proved popular upon release, topping the R&B chart, and reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100.^[1] Rolling Stone ranked "Sign o' the Times" #299 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.



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Michael Jackson ft. Paul McCartney

"The Girl is Mine"
The song recorded by Michael Jackson featuring Paul McCartney. The track was written by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. It was released as the first single for Jackson's sixth solo album, Thriller (1982). The song was recorded at Westlake Studios, Los Angeles, from April 14 to 16, 1982. McCartney is the only featured guest on the album. The year before, Jackson and McCartney had recorded "Say Say Say" and "The Man" for the latter's fifth solo album, Pipes of Peace (1983). Although it was released as a single, Jackson never performed the song live.
"The Girl Is Mine" achieved success in the music charts. Aside from topping the R&B singles chart, the single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number eight in the UK. By 1985, it had sold 1.3 million copies, and was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of at least one million units.
"The Girl Is Mine" has been the subject of two plagiarism lawsuits. Both instances required Jackson to testify in court, and each lawsuit found in the favour of the singer and his record label. In 2008, for the 25th anniversary edition of Thriller, Black Eyed Peas singer Will.i.am remixed "The Girl Is Mine". The remix received generally unfavourable reviews from music critics.



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Prince & The Revolution

"Purple Rain"
It is the title track from the 1984 album of the same name, which in turn is the soundtrack album for the 1984 film of the same name, and was released as the third single from that album. The song is a combination of rock, pop, gospel, and orchestral music. It reached #2 in the U.S., and is widely considered one of Prince's signature songs. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, shipping 1 million units in the United States.^[1]



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Prince

"I Wanna Be Your Lover"
The second is from album Prince. Released in 1979.
It was his first successful single, gaining radio airplay and chart success: the song scored two weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart during December 1979, and peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100.^[1]
In the U.S. the B-side of the track was "My Love Is Forever", from his previous album, For You. In the UK, the B-side was "Just as Long as We're Together", also from For You. This was Prince's debut single in the UK. It charted together with "Sexy Dancer" on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart, where it reached number two.^[2]
Prince included a sample of this song in the opening of his 1992 song "My Name Is Prince".



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Bee Gees

"How Deep Is Your Love"
A pop song recorded by the Bee Gees in 1977 and released as a single in September. Originally intended for Yvonne Elliman, it was ultimately used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever. It was a number three hit in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United States, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 24 December 1977 (becoming the first of six consecutive US number-one hits) and stayed in the Top 10 for a then-record 17 weeks. The single spent six weeks atop the US adult contemporary chart. It is listed at # 20 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.^[1] Alongside "Stayin' Alive", it is one of the group's two tracks on the list. The song was covered by Take That for their 1996 Greatest Hits album, reaching number-one on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks.
In 1983, The Bee Gees were sued by a Chicago songwriter, Ronald Selle, who claimed that the Gibb brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, The Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later.^[2][3]
The song was ranked #366 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.



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Michael Jackson

"Rockin' Robin" is a song written by Leon René under the pseudonym Jimmie Thomas and recorded by Bobby Day in 1958. It was Day's only hit single, becoming a number-two hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The 45 single release by Bobby Day showed "Rock-in Robin".

 Michael Jackson recorded and released a cover version of "Rockin' Robin" in 1972, which was taken from his first solo album titled Got to Be There. It was the biggest hit from the album, peaking at number two on the Hot 100 and R&B charts.



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Sting ft. Mary J. Blige

"Whenever I Say Your Name"
 ...is a 2003 duet between British singer-songwriter Sting and American R&B singer Mary J. Blige. The song is the second single from Sting's studio album Sacred Love. It was not originally included on Mary J. Blige's sixth studio album Love & Life but was later added to the album's international re-release.
The single was the third and final non-US single from Love & Life. The track was released in late 2003, only peaking at #60 in the UK, meaning that the song became Sting's lowest charting single since "They Dance Alone" reached #94 in 1988. It also became Mary J. Blige's smallest hit there since the first release of "Real Love" in 1992. [1] Despite the song's lack of commercial success, it did win the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for music released in 2003.
The song is arguably one of the most complex works Sting has authored. It is composed in F-sharp minor, using half diminished chords right from the first verse. The Chorus section quotes exactly the harmonic progression in the first five measures of J. S. Bach's Little Prelude in C major, BWV 924, beginning with the marked ascending circle of fifths sequence. The quotation is likely on purpose, since the change to a descending third sequence in bars 4-5 of the Bach prelude is also quoted in the Sting version. In terms of chord structure, no Sting song comes closer to Classical Music than "Whenever I say your name".



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Tom Jones

"Sex Bomb" 

...is a 1999 song recorded by Welsh pop music singer Tom Jones. Performed in collaboration with producer Mousse T., it was released around early 2000 and became the biggest single from the album Reload. It reached number three in the UK Singles Chart.

The "Peppermint Disco mix", a club version with house music beats, contains a sample from "All American Girls" by Sister Sledge. A jazzier "swing version" appears in Mousse T.'s solo album, Gourmet De Funk.

The song was used as the opening title music for the short-lived WB series Grosse Pointe. It was used in The Simpsons episode, "C.E. D'oh" (a series that Jones had earlier guest starred on in 1992).

The song has been covered by several artists, including Max Raabe.

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Sir Thomas John Woodward,^[1][2] OBE^[3] (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer, particularly noted for his powerful voice.^[4] Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel^[5] – and sold over 100 million records.^[6]

Early life

Tom Jones was born at 57 Kingsland Terrace, Treforest, Pontypridd in South Wales.^[7] His parents were Thomas Woodward (died 5 October 1981), a coal miner, and Freda Jones (died 7 February 2003).^[8] His family was mainly of English descent, with both of his paternal grandparents being born in England and his maternal grandmother born in Wales to English parents. Most of his ancestral roots appear to lie in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset.^[9]

Jones began singing at an early age: he would regularly sing at family gatherings, weddings, and in his school choir. Jones is dyslexic and he did not like school or sports; however, he was able to gain confidence through his singing talent.^[10] At age 12, Jones was struck down by tuberculosis. Many years later he said, "I spent two years in bed recovering. It was the worst time of my life." During convalescence, he could do little else but listen to music and draw.^[11]

In March 1957, Jones married his high school girlfriend, Melinda Trenchard. The couple had a son named Mark, who was born the month following their wedding. To support his young family, Jones took a job working in a glove factory and was later employed in construction.^[12]

Jones' bluesy singing style developed out of the sound of American soul music. His early influences included blues and R & B greats like Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson, and Brook Benton. Jerry Lee Lewis’s music also influenced him from a rock and roll perspective.[13

Rise to fame

Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group, in 1963. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales.

In 1964, Jones recorded several solo tracks with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but had little success. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and The Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but their partnership was short-lived.

The group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs in South Wales. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Jones' manager, and took the young singer to London. He contrived the stage name, "Tom Jones," which not only linked the singer to the image of the title character in Tony Richardson's hit film, but also emphasised Jones' Welsh nationality.

Many record companies found Jones' stage presence, act, and vocal delivery too raucous and raunchy. Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single, "Chills and Fever," was released in late 1964. It didn't chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual" became an international hit. The BBC initially refused to play it, but the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline promoted it. The heavily orchestrated pop arrangement perfectly meshed with Jones' swinging, sexy image, and in early 1965, "It's Not Unusual" reached number one in the United Kingdom and the top ten in the United States.

During 1965, Mills secured a number of movie themes for Jones to record, including the themes for the film What's New Pussycat? (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and for the James Bond film Thunderball. Jones was also awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1965.

In 1966, Jones' popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to redesign the singer's image into a more respectable and mature crooner. Jones also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience, such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the UK and began hitting the Top 40 again in the USA. For the remainder of the decade, he scored a consistent string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic