Hush is one of those songs that have been a hit for more than one artist. The interesting fact is that it had its lowest charting position with the original version. The song was written by American composer and musician Joe South, for recording artist Billy Joe Royal, whose single peaked at number 52 on the Billboard Hot 100. Kris Ife covered "Hush" in 1967. Australian performer Russell Morris recorded a version in 1967 with Somebody's Image and a heavier version with his band The Rubes in 1980. But the biggest scoring hit was Deep Purple’s version from 1968, recorded for their debut album Shades of Deep Purple. The track became the group's first hit single peaking at number 4 on the Hot 100 on 21–28 September 1968 and number 2 in Canada while going largely unnoticed in the United Kingdom.
The song was brought back to life again at the end of the nineties, with the powerful version by Kula Shaker. It reached number 2 on the UK singles chart and number 19 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in the US, where it was included in the “I Know What You Did Last Summer” soundtrack and the trailer for the 2014 film “Kingsman: The Secret Service.”
