"Every Little Bit Hurts" was originally a 1964 hitsingle forMotownsoul singerBrenda Holloway, written byEd Cobb and featured on Holloway's album of the same name.[2]
Though Brenda Holloway was against recording the song again (she had recorded it in 1962 for Del-Fi before signing withMotown), she reluctantly recorded the song[3] and the label released it in the summer of 1964 on Tamla. "Every Little Bit Hurts" was a big hit peaking at No. 13 on theBillboard Hot 100,[4][5] and became one of Holloway's trademark singles.
British bandThe Clash recorded a cover of the song in 1980 forSandinista!, but the track didn't make it onto the album. It was instead released in 1991 on the box setClash on Broadway
Etta James released the song on her collectionHow Strong is a Woman --- The Island Sessions in 1993.
"Every Little Bit Hurts" was included byAmerican recording artistAlicia Keys on her live album,Unplugged (2005). It was released as the album's second and last single in 2006. It failed to enter the US and international charts.
Sal Cinquemani fromSlant Magazine felt that Keys treated the song "like [a] vocal audition[...] and not the blank canvas[...] of an interpretive artist".[15]
^Every Little Bit Hurts (US promotional CD single liner notes).Alicia Keys.J Records. 2005. 82876-75977-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
