"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" is a 1967

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

released by American

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

singer Aretha Franklin on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

label. The words were written by Gerry Goffin from an idea by Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler, and the music was composed by Carole King. Written for Franklin, the record was a big hit reaching number 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and became one of her signature songs. It made history in the UK singles chart a week after her death, finally becoming a hit almost 51 years after it was first released entering at #79. Franklin also included a live recording on the album ''

Aretha in Paris ''Aretha In Paris'' is a live album by American singer Aretha Franklin, released in 1968, by Atlantic Records. The album was recorded in Paris on May 7, 1968. It reached the Top 20 of ''Billboards album chart. It was reissued on compact disc thro ...

'' in 1968. Carole King herself recorded the song for her 1971 album ''

Tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

''. Among the numerous cover versions of the song include versions by

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

and

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

, both of which charted in the same year (1995). At the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors, Aretha Franklin performed the song to honor award-recipient Carole King.

Original recording

Written by the partnership of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, the song was inspired by Atlantic Records co-owner and producer Jerry Wexler. As recounted in his autobiography, Wexler, a student of African-American musical culture, had been mulling over the concept of the "natural man", when he drove by King on the streets of New York. He shouted out to her that he wanted a "natural woman" song for Aretha Franklin's next album. Goffin and King went home and wrote the song that night.Remnick, Davi

''The New Yorker'', April 4, 2016. In thanks, they granted Wexler a co-writing credit. '' Cash Box'' said that "from the vocal standpoint, the side is unmatched; and in the ork and production departments, excellent work add up to a shattering performance" and that the song builds to "new emotional peaks" from a "shattering" beginning.

Personnel

* Aretha Franklin – lead vocals *

Spooner Oldham Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham (born June 14, 1943) is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy S ...

– piano *

Tommy Cogbill Thomas Clark Cogbill (April 8, 1932 – December 7, 1982) was an American bassist, guitarist and record producer known for his work in R&B, soul and country music. Life and career Cogbill was born in Johnson Grove, Tennessee. He was a high ...

– bass *

Gene Chrisman The American Sound Studio was a recording studio located in Memphis, Tennessee which operated from 1964 to 1972. Founded by Chips Moman, the studio at 827 Thomas Street came to be known as American North, and the studio at 2272 Deadrick Street c ...

– drums *

The Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists. A founding member of the group was Dionne Warwick, who was later replaced by her aunt, Ciss ...

Carolyn Franklin Carolyn Ann Franklin (May 13, 1944 – April 25, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter. Besides her own musical success, Franklin was best known as the daughter of prominent Detroit preacher and civil rights activist C. L. Franklin and the youn ...

Erma Franklin Erma Vernice Franklin (March 13, 1938 – September 7, 2002) was an American gospel and soul singer. Franklin was the elder sister of American singer/musician Aretha Franklin. Franklin's best known recording was the original version of " Piece of ...

– background vocals *strings conducted by Ralph Burns

Charts

Certifications

Later versions

(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman 2010 CK

"Natural Woman" was released by

Peggy Lipton Margaret Ann Lipton (August 30, 1946 – May 11, 2019) was an American actress, model, and singer. She made appearances in many of the most popular television shows of the 1960s before she landed her defining role as flower child Julie Barnes i ...

in 1968 on her self-titled album on Ode Records, and by

Freddie Hughes Fred Willie Hughes Jr. (August 20, 1943 – January 18, 2022) was an American gospel, soul, and R&B singer, perhaps best known for his 1968 song, "Send My Baby Back". Hughes was born in Berkeley, California, in 1943, and grew up in Oakland, Cali ...

in 1968 as "Natural Man" (Wand Records 1192), and by

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, play ...

on his album ''Goodies'' in 1968 (Verve Records V6-8771). Peggy Lee released a version on her 1969 album '' A Natural Woman''. It was recorded by Carole King on her landmark 1971 album ''

''.

recorded the song in 1995 for the '' Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King'' album, and released it as a single.

also recorded the song that year for ''

New York Undercover ''New York Undercover'' is an American police drama that aired on the Fox television network from September 8, 1994, to February 11, 1999. The series starred Malik Yoba as Detective J.C. Williams and Michael DeLorenzo as Detective Eddie Torre ...

''. Rod Stewart covered the song on his album '' Smiler'' in 1974.

Bonnie Tyler Gaynor Sullivan (née Hopkins; born 8 June 1951), known professionally as Bonnie Tyler, is a Welsh singer who is known for her distinctive husky voice. Tyler came to prominence with the release of her 1977 album '' The World Starts Tonight'' a ...

included a cover of the song on her 1978 album ''

Natural Force ''Natural Force'' is the second studio album by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, released in May 1978 by RCA Records. In the United States, the album was titled ''It's a Heartache''. As with her debut, Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe wrote most of the t ...

''. The Aretha Franklin version appears in the 1983 film '' The Big Chill'' and is included on both the

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

and More Songs from the Big Chill.

Joyce Sims Joyce Elizabeth Sims-Sandiford (August 6, 1959 – October 13, 2022) was an American singer and songwriter, whose biggest hit single, " Come into My Life", reached the top 10 in both the US ''Billboard'' R&B Chart and the UK Singles Chart in 19 ...

recorded a version of the song for her 1989 album '' All About Love''.

Tami Roman Tamisha Akbar (born April 17, 1970) better and professionally known as Tami Roman, is an American television personality, model, businesswoman and actress. Roman first gained fame on '' The Real World: Los Angeles'' in 1993. After making cameo ap ...

's 90's R&B group, ''Female'' recorded a cover of the song for the 1995 motion picture soundtrack ''Panther''.

Beccy Cole Beccy Cole (born Rebecca Diane Thompson, 27 October 1972), also known as Beccy Sturtzel, Rebecca Diane Albeck and Bec O'Donovan, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released ten studio albums, wi ...

covered the song live on her 2007 album, '' Live @ Lizotte's''. Carole King and Gloria Estefan performed the song in May 2009 in the She's Got a Friend concerts at the

Foxwoods Resort Casino Foxwoods Resort Casino is a hotel and casino complex owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation located in Ledyard, Connecticut. Including six casinos, the resort covers an area of . The casinos have more th ...

in Connecticut. The audio from one of the performances was included on some editions of Estefan's 2013 album, ''

The Standards ''The Standards'' is the thirteenth studio album by Cuban-American recording artist Gloria Estefan. The singer's first English-language album since 2011's ''Miss Little Havana'', and her twenty-seventh overall, it was released on September 10, 20 ...

''. In 2012, Christine Anu covered the song on her album, '' Rewind: The Aretha Franklin Songbook''. In 2014, Amber Riley covered the song on the fifth-season episode, "Bash," of Fox's musical comedy-drama television series ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

''. In December 2015, Aretha Franklin gave a universally acclaimed performance at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors during the section for honoree Carole King. The song was featured on the debut album of the group Leading Ladies, performed by musical actress Cassidy Janson, who had played the title role in '' Beautiful: The Carole King Musical''.

Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, televisio ...

performed the song at the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.

Mary J. Blige version

Charts

Celine Dion version

"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" was released as a promotional

in November 1995 in North America and the United Kingdom. It was featured on a tribute album to Carole King, called '' Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King'' issued on October 24, 1995. Later, Dion included this track on most editions of her 1996 album ''

Falling into You ''Falling into You'' is the fourth English-language and fourteenth studio album by Canadian singer Celine Dion, released on 11 March 1996 by Columbia/ Epic Records. The follow-up to her commercially successful album '' The Colour of My Love'' ( ...

''. The track was produced by

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

. Dion's version enjoyed a moderate success on the adult contemporary charts, reaching number 4 in Canada and number 31 in the United States. In 2008, the song was featured on the US version of '' My Love: Ultimate Essential Collection''. When Falling Into You won the Grammy for Album of the year in 1997, the song became the first to appear on two Album of the Year winners - following Tapestry's success in 1971. On April 14, 1998, Dion, Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey,

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

, Gloria Estefan and Carole King performed the song during a '' VH1 Divas'' concert at the Beacon Theatre, New York. The six vocalists were recruited by the cable music network VH1 to raise money for Save the Music, their education charity. Hyped extensively in the press, the event was a ratings winner for VH1 – so successful, in fact, that the network arranged to have the concert released on disc and tape on October 6, 1998. At that time "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (performed by all the divas) was released as a radio single in selected countries.

Personnel

– performer, vocals (background) * Lynn Davis – vocals (background) *

– arranger, keyboards, producer * Gerry Goffin – composer * Carole King – composer * Michael Thompson – guitar * Jerry Wexler – composer

Formats and track listings

1995 promotional CD single (Celine Dion) #"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" – 3:43 1998 promotional CD single (Divas) #"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (Live) – 5:15 #"

You've Got a Friend "You've Got a Friend" is a 1971 song written by American singer, songwriter, and musician Carole King. It was first recorded by King and included on her second studio album, ''Tapestry'' (1971). Another well-known version is by James Taylor f ...

" (Live) – 5:29

Charts

=Weekly charts

=Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Natural Woman, You Make Me Feel Like A 1967 singles 1967 songs 1995 singles Aretha Franklin songs Atlantic Records singles Carole King songs Celine Dion songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Mary J. Blige songs Peggy Lee songs Song recordings produced by Jerry Wexler Songs with lyrics by Gerry Goffin Songs written by Carole King Songs written by Jerry Wexler Soul ballads