Soft Cell's hit "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go" was a HUGE hit in 1982 and remains a frequent presence on your radio to this day. Most people knew "Where Did Your Love Go" was a cover of The Supremes. But did you know "Tainted Love" was also a cover? Yup, the original was released in 1964 by Gloria Jones, an African-American singer-songwriter who was born in Cincinnati (where in high school she played music with classmate Billy Preston), then moved to Los Angeles but ended up finding success in the UK, where she was recognized there as the "Queen of Northern Soul."
Jones released "Tainted Love" in 1964, and it became a sizable hit the following year in various regions of the U.S. and the UK. She later performed in the musical Hair and met singer-songwriter Marc Bolan, who went on to form the glam rock band T. Rex, whose song "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" was one of their massive hits. Jones was the driver of the car that killed Bolan in a crash in 1977; they'd already had a son together, the creatively-named Rolan Bolan, who was born in 1975 and is now an actor and producer.
The Northern Soul Revival movement in Britain during the late 1970s and into the early 1980s gave "Tainted Love," with its Motown-inspired licks, some new life in bars and clubs. It caught the attention of singer Marc Almond and his group Soft Cell, which added it to their own sets when they performed. In 1981, the record the ubiquituous cover of the song that everybody in the early 1980s - and since - has known incredibly well. They released "Tainted Love" and often paired it with a cover of The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go," which radio stations (like ours now) often played back-to-back. Essentially, it's two Motown-influenced songs covered by a New Wave British band that loved soul and Motown. Makes sense, right?
So if you haven't heard the original "Tainted Love," now's your chance: