11 Songs Written Decades Before Your Fav Artist Covered It

Linda Lyndell, a white R&B singer who sang backup for James Brown and Ike and Tina Turner, released “What a Man” in 1968. Unfortunately, the success of the song was overshadowed when she started receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan for “singing Black music,” and she retired from performing.

In the ’90s, Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue came out with a rap version of the song which became a hugely successful hit. Linda was completely unaware of the cover, and didn’t even find out until she got her first royalty check. Hearing the cover inspired her to end her retirement, and in 2003, she performed her version of the song live for the first time ever.