For Once in My Life

The single was cut at Motown’s Hitsville U.S.A. in Detroit. The band track was recorded on January 18, 1968 at Studio B, with lead vocal recorded January 19 and strings added at Studio B on January 25; Henry Cosby produced the session. Issued on Tamla in 1968, the track became Stevie Wonder’s biggest hit of the late 1960s and helped define the more polished, adult crossover side of his Motown era. It rose to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on that chart for 14 weeks. The song remains one of Wonder’s signature recordings and one of Motown’s best-known standards. Its durable popularity has kept it in circulation through later compilations, television use, and many cover versions.