“One of Us” by Joan Osborne

"One of Us" was Joan Osborne's first single and the calling card for her debut album, Relish, in 1995. Eric Bazilian of the Hooters wrote it, Rick Chertoff produced, and the Hooters connection runs right through the track: Bazilian plays guitar and electric piano, Rob Hyman handles drums and Mellotron, both sing backup, and Mark Egan holds down the bass. It's a slow, loping folk-rock shuffle, and Osborne's bluesy, full-bodied voice gives the plainspoken melody real ache.

It hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100, topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Flanders and Sweden, and earned three Grammy nominations, including Song and Record of the Year. It remained her only charting single, and VH1 later ranked it tenth among the great one-hit wonders of the '90s. Mark Seliger and Fred Woodward filmed the video at Coney Island.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.