In loving, living memory, John Melançon 1928 – 2007
On the song Tainted Love-- "have you heard the original?"
1964. Obviously heavily motown influenced. Gloria Jones. The single was a flop. More than ten years later some djs in the UK discovered it and started playing the hell out of it. She rerecorded a new version in the 1970s that's not nearly as good. Obviously Soft Cell's version is the biggest hit.