It's fair to say this record is pretty well known so you may be thinking how did this record only make number 40. You may also be thinking did this really come out as late as 1994.
The song was written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse in 1964 for the musical "The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd". It was then recorded in 1965 by Nina Simone. As a side note that same year Leslie Bricusse had a number 40 as songwriter with "If I Ruled the World" by Tony Bennett.
At this point Nina Simone was yet to have a UK Top 40 hit. Her debut came in 1968 with "Ain't Got No - I Got Life". In January 1969 when her debut was still in the Top 40 she released the single "To Love Somebody" and "I Put A Spell On You" on the same day. "To Love Somebody" entered the Top 40 straight away and "I Put A Spell On You" entered the Top 40 a week later meaning she had 3 singles in the Top 40 at the same time.
"I Put A Spell On You" was from her 1965 album of the same name which also had "Feeling Good" on it. The next time we'd see her in the Top 40 would be in 1987 with "My Baby Just Cares For Me" which came from her debut album "Little Girl Blue". This was a result of it appearing on the "Chanel No 5" advert and gave her a number 5.
We were now into an era where old songs were being given a new lease of life after featuring on an advert. A prime example of this came in 1993 when "Young At Heart" by the Bluebells topped the charts after appearing on the Volkswagen advert.
Then in 1994 "Feeling Good" appeared on the Volkswagen advert and the single had a photo of a Volkswagen Golf on the cover. Given Nina Simone succeeded before from appearing on an advert and Volkswagen ensured an old record topped the charts, this sounded like a recipe for success but it wasn't to be.
Nina Simone wasn't done with the Top 40 yet though. A remix of "Ain't Got No I Got Life" by Groovefinder in 2006 gave Nina Simone her final Top 40 hit to date which perhaps unsurprisingly appeared on an advert, this time being Muller.
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