I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You

The story of Aretha Franklin's creation of her first hit album sets her music against a background of the feminist and civil rights movements of the late 1960s, offering insight into the artist's complex personality and cultural impact.

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The album that earned soul legend Aretha Franklin her fist major hits, "I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You" was a pop and soul music milestone. Apart from its status as a hit record, the album also had a much wider cultural impact. By early 1967, when the album was released, the Civil Rights movement was already well underway and Aretha's new music gave it its theme song. The single "Respect" also became a passionate call to arms for the burgeoning feminist movement...Matt Dobkin has unearthed a wonderful story of the creation of an album that goes far beyond anything that's been written about "The Queen of Soul" or her music before. I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You is the story of a great achievement and includes scores of fresh interviews, including renowned producer Jerry Wexler and the session musicians from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, as well as Aretha's own musicians. It's also a biography of a star more complex and determined than her modern image as a diva indicates. Aretha, a teenage mother and daughter of a commanding preacher father, both rose above her circumstances and transformed them into art.