"If I Never Knew You" is a song performed by American singers Jon Secada and Shanice. It is from Disney's 1995 animated movie Pocahontas. The song was written by Alan Menken, a composer, and Stephen Schwartz, a lyricist. It was first recorded by Judy Kuhn, who provided the singing voice for Pocahontas in the movie, and by Mel Gibson, who played Captain John Smith. Jon Secada and Shanice's version of the song was played during the movie's end credits. It was released on September 12, 1995, as the second single from the movie's soundtrack by Walt Disney Records. This came after Vanessa Williams' version of the song "Colors of the Wind," which won an Academy Award.
The song was first created for a scene in the movie where Pocahontas visits Captain John Smith before he is sentenced to death for allegedly killing Kocoum, a warrior from Chief Powhatan's tribe who was supposed to marry Pocahontas. The scene, which was mostly animated, was meant to be a duet where the characters express their feelings for each other. However, during test screenings with children, the audience's attention seemed to drift from the movie. Alan Menken, the composer of the movie's songs, decided to remove the scene because he believed it slowed the movie's pace. Another song, "Savages," was played shortly after this scene. Although the scene was cut from the movie, the song was still performed by Jon Secada and Shanice during the end credits and released as a single. The lyrics of this version were slightly different from the original lyrics in the movie.
In 2005, Disney released a tenth-anniversary edition of Pocahontas. This version included the fully animated scene with the song, but it was an optional feature that viewers could choose to watch or skip, thanks to a special technology called seamless branching. The song was performed by Mel Gibson (as Captain Smith) and Judy Kuhn (as Pocahontas' singing voice) within the movie's story. It was recorded in 1995 for the original movie. An audio version of the song became available in 2015 as part of the Walt Disney Records: The Legacy Collection edition of the movie's soundtrack.
The Cheetah Girls version
The song "If I Never Knew You" was recorded by the Cheetah Girls for the album DisneyMania 4. It was released as a single and first played on Radio Disney in April 2006.
The music video for the song was shown on Disney Channel in 2006. It begins with the group arriving at a club in a limo wearing white, sparkly dresses. They then enter the club and perform the song on stage in front of an audience. The video also includes scenes of the girls dancing with men on the dance floor, which are shown between other parts of the performance.
Other cover versions
In 2001, Michael Crawford and Sherie Rene Scott sang a version of the song for The Disney Album. That same year, Angela Decicco and Bill Whitefield performed the song on the 2001 Christian/Gospel compilation album Our Heart Sings. Hal Ketchum and Shelby Lynne sang a version as part of The Best of Country Sing the Best of Disney. The song was also released as a Spanish version ("Si No Te Conociera"), performed by Jon Secada and Shanice. A Portuguese version was sung by Jon Secada and Daniela Mercury. Recently, Tiffany Thornton performed the song as part of DisneyMania 7. In Japan, a music box version of the song was included on the 2008 album Disney in Orgel.