The Top 10 Hit That Gave Linda Ronstadt Her First No. 1 Was Actually A Cover

"You're No Good" and Linda Ronstadt will likely forever be linked. With that breakup song that will get every boomer mad all over again, the 1970s country-rock-pop superstar made it into the Top 10 for the very first time, although she was nowhere near the first (nor the last) artist to record the tune. Ronstadt was instrumental in helping to get the story of the Eagles started, but while that group was immediately successful with its first singles in 1972, it took a while for Ronstadt's solo career to take off. "Different Drum" was a Top 20 hit in 1968 with her band the Stone Poneys, but she didn't make it back to the upper reaches of the Hot 100 until the week of January 25, 1975, when "You're No Good" soared into the Top 10, eventually moving up to No. 1.

The lead-off track on her fifth solo studio LP, 1974's "Heart Like a Wheel," "You're No Good" was  ultimately Ronstadt's only No. 1 hit, but it set a major career in motion, and all it took was covering a song already recorded by multiple artists beforehand and making it her own.

A kiss-off to an ex with some self-reflection about the narrator's own unseemly romantic behavior, "You're No Good" is an anthem of empowerment and acceptance written by Clint Ballard Jr. and committed to tape in 1963 by soul artists Dee Dee Warwick and Betty Everett. The next year, the British pop group the Swinging Blue Jeans cut a take. Warwick's single couldn't crack the Hot 100, while Everett's was a No. 51 hit and the Swinging Blue Jeans' only got up to No. 97.

"You're No Good" was relatively well known when Ronstadt added it to her setlist. After she sang it live for a while, manager Peter Asher urged her to record it. The first take didn't sound right to anyone involved, so Ronstadt went back into the studio with future late-'70s hitmaker Andrew Gold ("Lonely Boy") performing most everything but the vocals. That version clicked, and "You're No Good" became a No. 1 hit in early 1975.

Ronstadt's passionate voice plus old hits was a winning formula. Many of her subsequent hits were remakes, including "When Will I Be Loved" (originally by the Everly Brothers), "Heat Wave" (Martha and the Vandellas), and "It's So Easy" (Buddy Holly). Ronstadt also helped turn "You're No Good" into one of the most-covered songs of the 1960s. After her chart-topper, artists including José Feliciano, Van Halen, Elvis Costello, Reba McEntire, and Wilson Phillips all gave it a spin.