Bonnie Raitt "You"

Fun Fact: 

Bonnie Raitt only cracked the Top 40 in the UK once and she did it with her longing tune, "You", in 1994. Barely a blip on the radar in the United States, "You" peaked at #15 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

George Michael "I Can't Make You Love Me"

While Bonnie Raitt make this somber ballad famous in 1991, many other artists quickly adopted the song and added it to their respective setlists. George Michael along with Bruce Hornsby, Boyz II Men and Adele are just some of the many artists who embraced the touching tune. Ironically, the song was written by two Nashville songwriters who envisioned Bette Midler, Linda Ronstadt or Bonnie Raitt performing it.

Bonnie Raitt "Have A Heart"

Bonnie Raitt kicked the booze and drugs in the late-1980s with the help of Stevie Ray Vaughan. She said, "I thought I had to live that partying lifestyle in order to be authentic, but in fact if you keep it up too long, all you're going to be is sloppy or dead." 

Bonnie Raitt "You Got It"

Adult Contemporary radio programmers love remakes and they didn't shy from spinning Bonnie Raitt's remake of Roy Orbison's "You Got It".  Just six years after the original, Raitt recorded a version for the Boys on the Side soundtrack and it immediately became a Top 10 hit on AC radio.  

Bonnie Raitt - "Something to Talk About"

Anne Murray ruled Adult Contemporary radio during the 1970s and 1980s, but Anne didn't think the song "Something To Talk About" would be a hit.  Instead, Bonnie Raitt struck gold with the country-flavored ditty in 1991.  No matter how you feel about the song, you probably know all the words to the chorus.

Bonnie Raitt - "Love Sneakin' Up On You"

The first couple seconds of "Love Sneakin' Up On You" immediately transports me back to my junior year of high school.  I'm on the school bus early in the morning with Bonnie Raitt blasting on the radio courtesy of our driver Lorraine New Jack City (well, that wasn't her real last name, but when she told us her name it sounded like New Jack City).  Lorraine was a sweet woman who drove so slowly that they moved her bus to the back of the line at school because she held up all the other buses.  If the stoplight was green, she's start slowing down "just to be safe" she once told me.

Bonnie Raitt - "I Can't Make You Love Me"

While Bruce Hornsby has had plenty of Adult Contemporary hits, you can find him in a quite a few others.  However, you'll only hear him as the pianist rather than the vocalist.  One such example is Bonnie Raitt's signature ballad "I Can't Make You Love Me".  The day before my sophomore year of high school started, my friend Steve and I went to Gurnee Mills Mall with his mom.  We spent the whole day at the mall and Bonnie Raitt's tune blared over the speakers at center court.  By the end of the day, I think I had heard the song about 30 times.

Bonnie Raitt - "Nick of Time"

Bonnie Raitt looks a lot like the lady who scooped out sloppy joes in your high school cafeteria, but alas she is a successful country singer who also found success on Adult Contemporary radio. Bonnie released 9 other albums before scoring a cross-over hit with "Nick of Time" in 1989. When you listen to this song, you can almost hear the dentist drill in the background.