I Was Made to Love Her (song)

"I Was Made to Love Her" is a hit single recorded by American soul musician Stevie Wonder for Motown's Tamla label in 1967 (see 1967 in music). The song was written by Wonder, his mother Lula Mae Hardaway, Sylvia Moy and producer Henry Cosby; and included on Wonder's 1967 album I Was Made to Love Her. Released as a single, "I Was Made to Love Her" peaked at number-two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and spent four non-consecutive weeks at number-one on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart in the United States.^[1] When asked in a 1968 interview which of his songs stood out in his mind, Wonder answered "I Was Made to Love Her because it's a true song."^[2] The song features Wonder's harmonica solo in the introduction. The song also features strings following the bridge section. The last lyric line "You know Stevie won't ever leave you", refers to the singer himself.

The song was covered by the American band The Beach Boys on their 1967 album Wild Honey, by Jimi Hendrix (with Stevie Wonder on drums) on the BBC Sessions album, by the Jackson 5 on Boogie, and with minor changes, by American R&B singer Whitney Houston on her 1998 album My Love Is Your Love under the name "I Was Made To Love Him". Most recently, it was covered by Boyz II Men on their album Motown Hitsville USA.

Stevie's version was also heard in DTV Disney set to the Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet segment of Make Mine Music.

Cover versions

• Chaka Khan covered the song as "I Was Made To Love Him" on her 1978 solo debut Chaka.
• Whitney Houston did a Lauryn Hill-produced cover as "I Was Made To Love Him" on the album My Love Is Your Love.
• Jackie Wilson and Count Basie combined to create a version of the song included on the album "Manufacturers Of Soul".
• Claude François, a famous French singer (co-author of "Comme d'Habitude", with Jacques Revaux, the song that later became "My Way"), covered this song as "Rien, Rien, Rien", with a very bitter text about breaking up with a cold-hearted woman (the title means 'nothing', repeated three times, and the chorus is 'à la place du cœur tu n'as rien', which translates to 'where your heart should be, you've got nothing'). Note that Claude François had a special partnership with the Motown, and he adapted many of their titles in French, sometimes co-releasing the song in French and in English (thus technically speaking both versions being 'original' covers.)

Notes

Interesting.