History
Aretha Franklin had made nine albums while under contract to Columbia Records but had made no money. When Columbia Records let Franklin's contract lapse in 1966, Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler quickly signed her, taking her in January 1967 to the in Alabama, along with Tommy Dowd and Franklin's husband Ted White. Wexler had arranged for Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill from Stax to join the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section at Rick Hall's studio, the now famed Muscle Shoals.
One of the first songs they worked on was one that Franklin had brought with her, written by Ronnie Shannon.
Within minutes of Franklin's recording, Wexler knew he had a hit. At the request of signing with Atlantic Records in 1966, producer Jerry Wexler requested Franklin to record a blues song (written by Ronnie Shannon) in the famed Alabama music studio, FAME Studios, with the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Franklin later says of her Atlantic tenure that "they just told me to sit on the piano and sing". Within minutes of Franklin's recording, Wexler knew he had a hit.
The song's recording was later marred because of a fight between Franklin's then manager and husband, Ted White, and a Muscle Shoals session musician after the musician was seen flirting with Franklin forcing Wexler to move the recording of more songs with Franklin in their traditional New York home studio where they had some members of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section flown to New York to record the b-side, "Do Right Woman/Do Right Man" and a number of other tracks.
Wexler then issued the record to radio stations which rose to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Franklin's first #1 hit on the R&B charts. It was also the title of Franklin's star-making Atlantic Records debut LP. Franklin would soon become a superstar after the release of this song. The song has since been called a pivotal moment in rock and roll. It ranked #189 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The creation of the song is related in the BBC documentary series Soul Deep, including interviews with the original personnel including Aretha Franklin, Ronnie Shannon (demonstrating the central riff on electric piano), and Jerry Wexler.
Swedish pop group Roxette included the song in their MTV Unplugged show, in 1993. The song was later covered by Aerosmith as "Never Loved a Girl" on 2004's Honkin' on Bobo a collection of old blues and r&b songs. In 2006 Allison Crowe recorded the song for release on her album, This Little Bird. The song has also been performed on American Idol by contestants Sabrina Sloan in season 6 and Alexis Grace in season 8. Both performances received much acclaim. Grammy Award winners Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, and Jennifer Hudson have also covered the song.
There are a number of renditions of this song on Youtube including Aretha performing it on the Lady Soul special from 1968. A live recording featured on the album "Aretha in Paris" (1968).
This song has been in many movies, such as the 1991 movie The Commitments and the 2007 movie This Christmas, starring Loretta Devine and Chris Brown.
Read more about this topic: I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)
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