It’s hard to say who will be knocking on Malcolm Todd’s door first.
Could it be Alicia Keys? Or the heirs of songwriter JR Bailey?
Todd’s surprise hit, “Earrings,” has taken off on Spotify and iTunes.
The only problem is it sounds a lot like Alicia’s old hit, “You Don’t Know My Name.”
But wait — there’s a twist. Keys sampled the central theme of her song from the Main Ingredient’s “Let Me Prove My Love to You” from 1975. The song was written by Bailey with Ken Williams of the Main Ingredient (who also wrote “Everybody Plays the Fool”) and Mel Kent, according to the BMI database.
Keys’s record was produced by Kanye West, the king of samples. In the end, “You Don’t Know My Name” lists Bailey as a songwriter.
So this is a sample of a sample? May be. Or may be just a lift from Bailey. A founding member of The Cadillacs, a famous doo-wop group, Bailey wrote a lot of hits from the mid 50s to mid 60s. He had a solo career of his own, as well.
Did Malcolm Todd do this intentionally? Who knows? The Bailey part of the Keys song is incredibly catchy. It may have just been in his head. It was certainly in Kanye’s all those years ago.
