For which record label did Aretha Franklin record the hit 'Respect'?

Aretha Franklin recorded her hit version of “Respect” for Atlantic Records.

Franklin recorded the song in February 1967, during the sessions that launched her breakthrough period at Atlantic. Producer Jerry Wexler helped guide the sessions, while musicians from the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section supplied much of the backing. Franklin also played piano and reshaped the arrangement with her sisters Erma and Carolyn.

“Respect” was not originally written by Franklin. Otis Redding wrote and recorded the song in 1965 for the Volt label, a subsidiary associated with Stax. Franklin transformed it by changing the perspective, adding the emphatic “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” refrain, and giving the performance a stronger sense of female independence and dignity.

Atlantic released Franklin’s version as a single on April 10, 1967. It became her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single and grew into her signature recording. The song is often mistakenly linked to Motown because Franklin was a Detroit icon, but her landmark recording career from 1967 onward was primarily associated with Atlantic Records.