In 2011 legendary soul singer Etta James was ailing from Alzheimer’s disease and would release her final album in November of that year. But it wasn’t a song from that album that would have her featured on two top five singles in 2011. Instead her 1962 song Something’s Got A Hold On Me, which was a marginal hit at the time, would be the main hook of not one but two hit singles. The song was first sampled  in 2006 by Colorado DJ Derek Vincent Smith, under the name Pretty Lights, in the song Finally Moving. Then in March 2011 a Swedish DJ known as Avicii  released the song Levels which sampled from James’ 1962 hit, using the opening line of the song repeatably throughout the dance song. Later that year Flo Rida evidently heard the Avicii song and thought it would be a great tune for him to rap over, which is something he does often it turns out, in a song that basically is the same as the Avicii song with his vocals between the Etta James sample and called it Good Feeling . Both songs were huge hits all over the world, with both songs peaking in the top five on the US Hot 100 chart and charted equally as high in numerous countries. The songs are heard on a regular basis at many sporting events and on numerous commercials. Unfortunately for Etta James very few of the people dancing to these songs are aware of the origins of the vocals in the song. Which is why I am fundamentally against sampling in music, because the original artist rarely gets credit for their contribution to these hits. It is worth mentioning that both artists were among the many to offer condolences to the soul legend after her death in 2012.  Below are the three songs:

Here is the original 1962 song Something’s Got A Hold On Me

The Dance Hit Levels, By Avicii

Good Feeling By Flo Rida