Rock Steady (Aretha Franklin song)

Personnel

• Aretha Franklin - lead vocals, piano
• Donny Hathaway - electric piano, organ
• Bernard Purdie - drums
• Cornell Dupree - guitar
• Richard Tee - organ
• Chuck Rainey - bass guitar
• The Sweethearts of Soul — backing vocals
• Robert Popwell, Dr. John - percussion
• The Memphis Horns
• * Wayne Jackson - trumpet
• * Andrew Love - tenor saxophone
• Gene Paul - engineer
• Jerry Wexler - production
• Tom Dowd - horn arrangement, production
• Arif Mardin - production

  Chart positions

Cover versions

• The Jackson Sisters recorded a whip-snapping cover of the song in 1976 for their sole eponymous album.
• In 1987, a house version of the song was recorded by singer Dalis and released on Trax Records.
• Patti Austin covered the song on her 1994 album That Secret Place.
• Prince released a version on his 2007 live album, Indigo Nights. The song features Beverley Knight.
• In 2008 the song was sampled by Japanese R&B singer Namie Amuro in her own song, "Rock Steady".
• Richard Elliot also covered this song as an instrumental in 2010 off his album, which was also titled Rock Steady. Aretha's vocals were replaced by Rich's saxophone.
• Dawn Robinson of the group En Vogue did a solo cover of the song on 1998's Dr. Dolittle soundtrack.
• The song is used as a diegetic track in '.
• Rap group People Under the Stairs mention the song in their song "The Next Step II".
• Daryl Hall and John Oates covered the song on their 2004 album Our Kind of Soul.
• Regina Love covered the song in The Voice .
• In 2012, Christine Anu covered the song on her album, '.
• Rap duo EPMD sampled the beat and Franklin's lyrics for their 1989 single "I'm Housin" from their debut LP Strictly Business.

  Usage in media