Hello everyone,

I'm looking for songs from American late 60s/70s/80s soul and R&B artists that made complete songs in a language other than English. Either covers of their own or other songs or a unique song.  The only ones I found easily was Barry White and the songs Mi Nueva Cancion (Love Makin' Music) and Ella Es Todo Para Mi (She's Everything To Me). If you haven't heard it, you must go to YouTube and listen.  I'm not looking for hybrid songs like LaBelle's Lady Marmalade, unless the song is around 80% "not" English.

Thank you to all of you that contributed on this forum! I have learned so much!

I look forward to any assistance!

Jimmy Radcliffe LATIAO in Italian and Gene McDaniels I think did Italian versions of one/some of his recordings.

The Supremes recorded Where Did Our Love Go in German as Wo Ist Unsere Liebe. I think there might have been other Motown artists with foreign language versions,  @Robbkmight be able to help.

 

Motown did record a few of their big hits in Italian and German. Not sure but I think there were also French and Spanish versions.

 

26 minutes ago, Benji said:

Motown did record a few of their big hits in Italian and German. Not sure but I think there were also French and Spanish versions.

Found some Italian versions on YT

 

2 hours ago, Chalky said:

Jimmy Radcliffe LATIAO in Italian and Gene McDaniels I think did Italian versions of one/some of his recordings.

Wasn’t there a Portuguese version too,thought Ady used to play it at 100club...?

I might be wrong tho...

5 hours ago, Chalky said:

Jimmy Radcliffe LATIAO in Italian and Gene McDaniels I think did Italian versions of one/some of his recordings.

Not sure about Gene McDaniels singing italian. But maybe you mean the italian cover of "Walk with a winner" by Leonardo, called "E Va, Se Hai Deciso"?

The Moments cut some songs for the French Canadian market.

 

There's a full album of Motown artists covering their hits in italian:

https://www.discogs.com/de/release/7282553-Various-The-Detroit-Sound-Il-Suono-DellAmerica-Giovane

There are four 1960s Motown 45s with songs sung in german:

Supremes - Jonny und Joe ("Come see about me")

Supremes - Baby, Baby wo ist unsere Liebe ("Where did our love go")

Marvin Gaye - Wie schön das ist ("How sweet it is")

Temptations - Mein Girl ("My girl)

Both Supremes 45s did sell quite well, or at least they are easy to pick up. Next they released the Temptations which flopped and is very hard to find for a reasonable price these days. Last Motown release sung in german was Marvin Gaye, which didn't really sell well but it's not that hard to pick up.

Side note: Flip side to "Mein Girl" is a song called "Blue Bird" (also sung in german) which was written by two germans for this release so not a cover version as such. However a below average song. I have no idea where it was recorded. Probably in Detroit (imo)

The LA Chicano artist MC Blvd cut this lovely Spanish version of ‘Make it with you’ to complement an English version.

Besides this, Stevie Wonder did a few of his songs in Italian and Spanish .  "A Place In The Sun", "Music Talk", "Travlin' Man", "I'm Wondering", "My Cherie Amour", "Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday" were all released in Italian  language versions.

            "Yester- Me...", "My Cherie Amour", "For Once In My Life" and "A Place In The Sun" were all done in Spanish. 

 

 

A few more for the list-

        Martha and the Vandellas cut Spanish language versions of "Jimmy Mack" and "I'm Ready For Love".

       While at ABC, the Four Tops made Italian and Spanish versions of "Keeper Of The Castle". 

On 09/01/2023 at 09:49, Rick Cooper said:

The Supremes recorded Where Did Our Love Go in German as Wo Ist Unsere Liebe. I think there might have been other Motown artists with foreign language versions,  @Robbkmight be able to help.

 

Most of those foreign language Motown songs I remember were recorded between 1964 and 1966, including songs by The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Velvelettes, The Four Tops, Martha and The Vandellas, and The Marvelettes.  I remember a few from 1967, but didn't pay attention to that from 1968 on, despite being in the offices periodically throughout much of the 1970s.  But, I don't remember the individual song titles.  I only have a few on vinyl, and don't remember where I have them stored.  I do remember that The Velvelelettes recorded more than an LP's worth in French, because Cal was a fluent speaker in that language.  Those were mainly recorded from 1965-66, possibly with a few more in 1967.  Most I remember from 1964-67 were German, Italian, French, and Spanish.  And many of those have already been mentioned by other posters in this thread.

Edited January 10, 20232 yr by Robbk

Rocky Roberts and tha Airedales

Stasera Mi Butto

was the theme for an Italian cop show.

listening to it I think he learned the lyrics phonetically.

ex GI who ended up performing in Italy and France I believe.

 

 

A compilation called Motown Around the World was put out on CD in around 2010.

There's a write-up and podcast about it here:

https://www.npr.org/2010/05/28/127245081/mein-girl-motowns-hits-found-in-translation

And there's a complete track listing - including sample sound files, here:

https://www.bear-family.com/various-motown-around-the-world-foreign-language-versions-of-motown-greatest-hits-cd.html