Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) – Rock Steady (1971)
Written by Aretha and released as a single in advance of her landmark Young, Gifted and Black LP, this #2 R&B hit featured Donny Hathaway on keyboards.
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The transformative nature of Aretha Louise Franklin’s reign as the Queen of Soul can be measured in many ways. One is that she saw more of her records hit the Billboard charts than any other female artist for nearly all of her six decade-long career, from the 1960s through the mid-2010s.
By 1970, Aretha was at the top. She had released seven top-selling albums on Atlantic Records (on top of another eight issued during her earlier stint on Columbia Records from 1960-66), hailed as “The Sound of Soul” when she graced the cover of Time magazine, and won two Grammys.
She entered Atlantic’s New York studios on August 12 to begin recording her next album, which would become the landmark LP Young, Gifted and Black.
The recording sessions lasted until February 16, 1971, and also took place at Atlantic South, aka Criteria Recording Studios in Miami. During this period her eighth Atlantic LP was released, Spirit in the Dark (1970). It was her first album for the label not to reach Billboard’s Top 20, despite having two hit singles, the #1 R&B “Don't Play That Song (You Lied)” which was also a #11 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and its gospel jam title track, which peaked at #3 R&B.
For Young, Gifted and Black, she wrote four new original songs, including the album’s ultra funky masterpiece, “Rock Steady” (1971).
It was the second single released ahead of the album, which was not shipped to stores until January 24, 1972. “Rock Steady” was issued on October 11, 1971, and immediately became a hit, going to #2 R&B and #9 on the pop charts.
“Rock Steady” was one of the last songs on Young, Gifted and Black to be finished, with the original unedited, undubbed master without horns recorded in Miami on February 15, 1971, the second-to-last day of the album’s recording sessions.
The track’s amazing cast of musicians backing Aretha featured first and foremost Donny Hathaway, playing the electric piano and organ. It also included Richard Tee on organ, Cornell Dupree on guitar, Bernard Purdie behind the drums, Chuck Rainey on bass, Robert Popwell and Dr. John on percussion, and the Memphis Horns (Wayne Jackson on trumpet and Andrew Love on tenor sax).
Backing vocals were provided by The Sweethearts of Soul (Brenda Bryant, Margaret Branch, and Pat Smith). The horns were arranged by Tom Dowd. Like the rest of Young, Gifted and Black, the song was produced by Dowd, Arif Mardin, and Jerry Wexler, her longtime producer who had convinced her to move to Atlantic Records.
More info:
"Why Aretha was the greatest singer in US history," by Arwa Haider, BBC Culture, August 16, 2018
#soul #funk #DonnyHathaway #RockSteady #ArethaFranklin
There’s never too much to say about Aretha.
For several years I’ve tried mightily to piece together an Aretha playlist of outtakes and hard-to-find recordings by her. My greatest discovery was learning that thirty years or so ago there was a release on CD of the live SOUL TRAIN moment where she and Smokey Robinson spontaneously duet on Smokey's “Ooo Baby Baby.” TIME/LIFE (?!) released it and other live recordings from Soul Train, but it hasn’t been available for forever. It cost me $50 on eBay and was completely worth it.
Now I find that it’s being released again soon (maybe already) as part of a large collection of Aretha recordings. The video of the two performing on Soul Train is available on YouTube, of course, but watching it only makes you wish that Aretha's comment to Smokey “We should’ve been a duo!” had been fully realized.