OK, what I mean here is: Someone who writes a song and records and releases it, but not before someone else recorded and released it. (Please note that I’m not counting artists who release alternate versions of songs they themselves had previously released; that’s a separate and pretty large category.)
The obvious example, to me, is Carole King’s 1971 version of “Will You Love Me Tomorrow”, written by King and Goffin, originally recorded and released by the Shirelles in 1960.
The thing that made me think of this was Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock”; the CSNY version was released on 45 in April 1970 and her version was released in June. So, it technically fits my definition, but just barely.
An interesting non-example is Dylan’s Basement Tapes… a number of songs from those tapes were released by other artists prior to the Basement Tapes’ official release, but the actual recordings were made first by Dylan (and the Band), so I’m not really counting that.
Clapton and Layla - original Derek and the Dominoes vs. Unplugged
Oh, crap - missed the point of the OP.
Okay - how about Demolition Man - written by Sting for Grace Jones, who included it on her CD Nightclubbing (which is a freakin’ BRILLIANT record - Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare on the drums and bass - perfection), but he liked the song so much he included it on Ghost in the Machine.
Stevie Wonder wrote Superstitious for Jeff Beck, but liked it so much he recorded it himself. I like both version - Beck still does it live…
Kate Bush’s recent album Director’s Cut is newly recorded or remixed with new vocals versions of songs from her albums The Sensual World and The Red Shoes.
According to Wikipedia, both Mitchell’s Ladies of the Canyon and CSNY’s Deja Vu, which contained their respective recordings of “Woodstock,” were released in March 1970.
George Harrison wrote “Try Some Buy Some” for Ronnie Spector, who released it as a single in 1971. Two years later, Harrison recorded his own vocal over a remix of the original 1971 instrumental track and released the results on his Living in the Material World album.
Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower
Megadeth’s The Mechanix - Not sure if this meets the exact topic…but Dave Mustaine wrote the original song when in Metallica, (as heard on the No Life Til Leather demo) which then had the lyrics changed and added a part to the middle and changed the title to The Four Horsemen. Once in Megadeth he recorded and released his original version.
Willie Nelson has several, due to being a songwriter before being a recording star. “Crazy” was written and performed by Willie Nelson, but only after being made famous by Patsy Cline. “Hello Walls” was also written and performed by Willie Nelson, but was first a number one country hit for Faron Young. Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away” was first recorded and released by Billy Walker, and his “Pretty Paper” was first a hit for Roy Orbison.
Neil Diamond, like Carole King, started out as a songwriter at the Brill Building, and wrote a lot of hits for other acts before becoming a successful recording artist himself.
He wrote the Monkees’ biggest hit, “I’m a Believer,” in 1965, and covered it himself years later
He wrote it for Elvis Presley. He allegedly sent a demo to Presley, but Presley died before it arrived. He then offered it to rockabilly singer Robert Gordon, who recorded the first released version of it in March, 1978, seven months before the Pointer Sisters. Springsteen played piano on Gordon’s recording of Fire.
I’m going to nominate I Wanna Be Your Man, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It was a song the two were working on, and when they heard the Rolling Stones were in need of a single, they finished it in the corner of a room while Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were looking on. The Stones released it in early November, 1963 and the Beatles followed up with their own recording a few weeks later.
I’m not certain about the timeline- so, if I’m wrong, I welcome being corrected.
But I THINK Stevie Wonder originally gave the song “Superstition” to Jeff Beck, who recorded a plodding version of the song with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice.
Stevie then recorded his own version, which was both much better AND much more commecially successful.
I cite this in my post above; pretty sure you’re correct. About how Stevie’s is superior, too. He’s got that wonderful '70’s clavinet tone for the main riff - even Jeff Beck can’t beat that.
Bob Dylan’s “The Mighty Quinn” was first officially released by Manfred Mann in 1967; Dylan had recorded it for the Basement Tapes, but his first official release of the song was in 1970 (with a different version than the Basement Tapes).
Paul Simon’s “Red Rubber Ball” was a hit for the Cyrkle; Simon later recorded a live version.
This came up in the other covers thread, but “Torn” by Ednaswap was first recorded and released by Danish artist Lis Sørensen under the title “Brandt” (“Burnt”) in 1995 before it was recorded on Ednaswap’s debut that came out two years later. (And then the Natalie Imbruglia version came out later.)
John Mellencamp wrote “I Need a Lover” which was included on his 1978 album A Biography (which wasn’t released in the United States) and his 1979 album John Cougar. Pat Benetar did a cover version of “I Need a Lover” which was released on her 1979 album In the Heat of the Night.
While Mellencamp technically released his version of the song first, it was Benetar’s version that first got airplay in the United States.