“Ain’t Nobody” is a song by American funk band Rufus and American singer Chaka Khan. It was released in November 1983, as one of four studio tracks included on their live album Stompin’ at the Savoy (1983). “Ain’t Nobody” quickly gathered popularity, and reached number one on the US Billboard R&B chart and number 22 on the US Billboard. It has become one of Khan’s signature songs.
Rufus keyboardist David Wolinski wrote the song around a repeating synthesizer loop backed by a Linn LM-1 drum computer; however, John Robinson, the band’s drummer, played real drums for the recording session. The band did a democratic vote and they decided to include the song in their album repertoire. Once the song was recorded, Warner executives wanted to issue another song as the album’s first single. Wolinski threatened to give the song to American singer Michael Jackson and American producer Quincy Jones for Jackson’s album Thriller if the song was not the lead-off single. The label relented and “Ain’t Nobody” was issued and hit number one on the R&B chart for the week ending October 15, 1983.
In 1995, Jamaican singer-songwriter Diana King recorded a cover single of “Ain’t Nobody“. It was released as the third single from her debut album, Tougher Than Love. The song reached number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 4 on Billboard‘s Dance chart and number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. Larry Flick from Billboard described the song as a “sexy hip-hop interpretation” by King and “irresistible”. He also complimented King’s “assured performance”.
In 2003, English-Irish pop group Liberty X released a version of the song titled “Being Nobody“, produced by Richard X. as the lead single from Liberty X’s second studio album Being Somebody (2003). The song is a pseudo-mashup, taking the lyrics of “Ain’t Nobody” and placing them over an instrumental interpolation of The Human League’s “Being Boiled”. Additional elements from both songs were also used such as the recurring synth line from “Ain’t Nobody” and the line “OK, ready? Let’s do it.” in the intro of the main mix are from the intro of “Being Boiled”.
In 2015, German music producer and DJ Felix Jaehn released a remix titled “Ain’t Nobody (Loves Me Better)” featuring vocals by British singer Jasmine Thompson. It is the lead single for his eponymous 2016 debut EP Felix Jaehn. The remix was based on a solo release of the song by Thompson in 2013, when Thompson was 13, which had peaked at number 32 on the UK Singles Chart. However, the Felix Jaehn remix became a far bigger international chart success, peaking at number one or two in a number of European countries (including number two in the United Kingdom) as well as the top 10 in other European countries and Australia.
Just to finish with Jessie J. Who does a very creditable version on The Singer (2018).
