On this day in 1967, Aretha Franklin released her first hit song, I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)

Franklin originally signed to Columbia Records in 1960 and released nine albums with them but had remained commercially unsuccessful. The record company let Franklin’s contract laps in 1966 and Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler quickly signed her and arranged recording sessions in Alabama for January.

Wexler arranged a group of musicians to join the session and they started by working on a song that Aretha had brought with her, written by Ronnie Shannon. Soon after, Wexler asked her to record a blues song, and to play the piano on it herself. Within minutes, Wexler knew he had a hit.

The song quickly reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 list as well as number 1 on the R&B chart and Franklin kept the momentum by swiftly following with an album of the same name, going gold soon after. The song was soon as a defining moment in Franklin’s career and soon became a superstar. By 1968 she was hailed as one of the most successful singers in the nation.