“I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” by Aretha Franklin

Ronnie Shannon's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", the lead single and title song of Aretha Franklin's ninth album in 1967, is the sound of a great singer finally finding the right room. She'd made eight albums for Columbia with only two Top 40 pop singles to show for them, and when that contract lapsed in 1966, Jerry Wexler signed her to Atlantic and, in January 1967, took her to Rick Hall's FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Chips Moman and Tommy Cogbill came over from Stax to join the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

Franklin plays piano, with Moman and Jimmy Johnson on guitars, Cogbill on bass, Roger Hawkins on drums, Spooner Oldham on electric piano and horns from King Curtis, Charles Chalmers, Willie Bridges and Melvin Lastie. It was her first big hit, topping the R&B charts and reaching nine on the pop side, with "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" on the flip.

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