Covers and Samples
The most notable covers of the song were by jazz singer Phil Perry, who recorded it on his 1994 album, Pure Pleasure and Keke Wyatt, who recorded it on her debut solo album, Soul Sista. Wyatt said LaBelle called her to congratulate her on her recording of the song, saying humorously, "you better sing it, heffa". Singer-actress D'Atra Hicks also covered it for her album, Finally My Time. Singer Oke also covered the song (in its Keke Wyatt-styled cover) in 2001.
Chicago-based rap group Do or Die recorded an interpretative rap version with Twista and Syleena Johnson guest vocalizing on their album, D.O.D., as did Remy Ma on her mixtape, BlasRemy, as a dedication to then-boyfriend (now husband), Papoose. Remy's version sampled LaBelle's original. Another sample of the song came from Chicano rapper Capone, who had a song with the same name. Rapper Bizzy Bone included the sample of the song as an interpretation of his composition, "Nobody Can Stop Me", from his Heaven'z Movie album. In 2010, both Jasmine V and Ciara recorded the song "If Only", which interpolated parts of the LaBelle song. Jasmine's version was recorded as a demo while Ciara's version was deleted off the final track list of her album, Basic Instinct.
Other artists such as SWV (and group member Coko), Ledisi, Tamia, Rachelle Ferrell, Ron Isley, Brian McKnight and Mariah Carey have covered the song in concert with the latter five singing the song in tribute to LaBelle as she was honored. Carey featured LaBelle's rendition of "Over the Rainbow" as part of her live tribute following a brief performance of "If Only You Knew". SWV also included a studio recorded cover on their 2012 album "I Missed Us", which went on to be nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.
Read more about this topic: If Only You Knew
Famous quotes containing the words covers and/or samples:
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