"What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes has endured as one of the most popular songs of the '90s, but it wasn't a huge hit at the time and the band split after one album. Frontwoman Linda Perry went on to write hits for Pink and Christina Aguilera.
Lucinda Williams wrote and recorded "Passionate Kisses" four years before it was a hit for Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Elton John's "Rocket Man" is based on a Ray Bradbury story called The Rocket Man published in 1951.
"The Night Chicago Died" was written and recorded by the British group Paper Lace. They talk about Al Capone in the song, but got a lot of details wrong - understandable since they wrote it based on gangster movies.
Billy Joel wrote "We Didn't Start The Fire" after a 21-year-old told him, "everyone knows that nothing happened in the '50s."
Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" is based on the song "It's A Hard Knock Life" from the Broadway play Annie.
Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.
The "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle" singer makes a habit of playing with the best in the business.
Do you know who wrote Patti Smith's biggest hit? How about the Grease theme song? See if you can match the song to the writer.
You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.
Rockers, rappers and pop stars have been known to quote the Bible in their songs. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric.
Shears does very little promotion, which has kept him secluded from the spotlight. What changed when Cyndi Lauper had a hit with his song? Not much, really.