"Who Can I Run To" is a 1979 song written by Charles B. Simmons, Frank Alstin Jr, Richard Roebuck and originally recorded by
The Jones Girls
The Jones Girls were an American R&B vocal trio of sisters from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Consisting of Brenda, Shirley and Valorie Jones, the Jones Girls first signed and recorded for GM Records in 1970. The trio were best known for th ...
. The song was the B-side to "You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else". ''Billboard'' named the song #58 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.
Xscape version and samples
*A 1995
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
by
R&B group,
Xscape, spent one week at number one on the U.S. R&B Singles chart and reached number eight on the pop chart.
*A remix was also made, which sampled former labelmate
Teddy Pendergrass
Theodore DeReese Pendergrass (March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010) was an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter. He was born in Kingstree, South Carolina. Pendergrass spent most of his life in the Philadelphia area, and initially rose to musi ...
's "
Love T.K.O."
*R&B artist
Anderson Paak
Brandon Paak Anderson (born February 8, 1986), better known by his stage name Anderson .Paak (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and drummer. He released his debut mixtape, ''O.B.E. Vol. 1,'' in 2012 and went on to rel ...
sampled the Xscape version for his song "Might Be" from the album ''
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
'' in 2014. This song would later be covered by
DJ Luke Nasty in 2015, also sampling the Xscape version.
Other versions
*In 1996,
Ricky Dillard
Ricky Rydell Dillard (born February 25, 1965) is an American gospel musician. He started his music career, in 1987, as a Chicago house musician. His first Christian music album was ''Promise'', by Muscle Shoals Records. His next album, ''A Holy ...
and the New Generation Chorale released the album, ''Worked It Out''. It included a version of "Who Can I Run To?" that answered the question with "I need the Lord."
*At the end of 2008, this song was reworked into a
house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
track with vocals from
Dawn Tallman
Dawn Tallman is an American soul, R&B and gospel singer.
Biography
She is marketed as "The Queen of Gospel Energy" by her record company. She was born and raised in Danbury, Connecticut, and started singing in church and later on was featured in ...
, released on Thick Recordings.
*
Juvenile sampled the original version of the song in 2007 for a song also called "Who Can I Run To?" featuring
Mannie Fresh
Byron Otto Thomas (born March 20, 1969), better known by his stage name Mannie Fresh, is an American music producer and rapper. He's best known for his productions on Cash Money Records releases, as well being half of the hip hop duo (alongside ...
and
Soulja Slim
James Adarryl Tapp Jr. (September 9, 1977 – November 26, 2003), better known by his stage name Soulja Slim, was an American rapper and songwriter. He is perhaps best known for featuring on the U.S. number one hit "Slow Motion".
Early life
Jam ...
. It was on an album entitled "Diary of a Soulja" that was never released.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
See also
*
R&B number-one hits of 1995 (USA)
References
{{Authority control
1995 singles
Xscape (group) songs
Song recordings produced by Jermaine Dupri
1979 songs
Columbia Records singles
Contemporary R&B ballads
Soul ballads
1970s ballads