Story of the Song: For Once in My Life by Jean DuShon

From The Independent archive: Robert Webb on the surprising origins of the Stevie Wonder smash

DuShon performing at the Apollo Theatre in New York, 1966 (Getty)

Generally thought of these days as a Stevie Wonder original, “For Once in my Life” wasn't always his. It was written by Orlando Murden and the lyricist Ronald Miller, and was first recorded by a Detroit jazz vocalist called Jean DuShon. She’d started out in 1961 with Phil Spector and a tune called “Talk to Me”, made a few more 45s, and, in 1966, was scouting for new material. Miller caught one of her concerts and invited her over. “Ron was so excited over my sound, he said, ‘Jean, I have a tune for you and I know that you can do it’,” she recalled.

DuShon gave the song a readthrough, and Miller liked it so much that he took her round to Chess studios. DuShon’s prototype of “For Once in my Life” was released on Cadet, a Chess subsidiary, and was soon record of the week at Detroit's WXYZ Radio. The song gained a reputation and DuShon was poised for a breakthrough. But sales suffered from poor promotion – there was even a rumour that the release was spiked by Tamla Motown's founding father, Berry Gordy, who – as Miller was under contract to Motown – wanted it for his own.

Tony Bennett grazed the charts with a leisurely version late in 1967, but the song was about to get a makeover. Gordy had found the right singer for it: his teenage prodigy Stevie Wonder, whose career was on the rise with “Uptight” and “I Was Made to Love Her”.

Wonder and his producer, Hank Cosby, jumped on “For Once in my Life”. They sped it up, gave it a string arrangement, complete with an animated piccolo motif, and turned it into his biggest hit to date, kept from the US No 1 spot only by his fellow Motowner, Marvin Gaye.

Wonder's probable lack of enthusiasm at singing someone else's song is concealed by his exuberant performance. Scores of successful covers followed, all to DuShon's chagrin. A big band version by Frank Sinatra in 1969 was the final straw. “Before I knew it, everybody else was jumping on it,” said DuShon. But she did eventually let it go: “I stopped singing it – it wasn't mine any more.”