panish Harlem" was initially intended for Aretha Franklin's album Young, Gifted and Black but was instead included on her upcoming Greatest Hits collection. This decision showed great foresight, as the song became Aretha's biggest hit since 1967.

"Spanish Harlem" had first appeared on the pop charts in 1961 when former The Drifters member Ben E. King took his version to #10. A remake by King Curtis had stalled at #89 in 1966, and as 1971 rolled around, it was Aretha's turn to give the song a shot. The song had been co-written by Phil Spector, and in a 1969 interview with Rolling Stone he mentioned how the "message song" had come about.

Co-written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector, "Spanish Harlem" became "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin's 24th Billboard Top 40 hit and eleventh Top 10 hit in 1971, rising to No. 2 for two weeks and remaining on the charts for 11 weeks. It was the second single taken from Franklin's 1971 hits collection Aretha's Greatest Hits, which peaked at No. 19 on the album charts, and remained on the charts for 34 weeks.

He explained, "I had been in New York, I was born there and had lived out here in California a great deal of the time. I went back there and I wanted to do 'Spanish Harlem.' It really meant exactly what I said.... I think the record industry just accepted it. I don't think they knew it was a message or it wasn't a message. I don't think they knew anything. I think it was just there, but I don't think anyone really thought it was a hit; nobody did. Nobody really understood it at first, then it started to grow on people and it made sense."

Aretha set out to put her own stamp on the record. In the chorus, which read "There is a rose in Spanish Harlem," she changed the chorus to insert the words "and black" after "rose." Featuring the contributions of Bernard Purdie on drums, Chuck Rainey on bass, Donny Hathaway on keyboards, and Cornell Dupree on guitar, the song made a healthy debut at #69. Within seven weeks, in addition to topping the R&B charts, it became Aretha's #2 hit on the pop charts, kept from #1 by Donny Osmond's "Go Away Little Girl."

However, when the Grammy nominations were announced, "Spanish Harlem" was overlooked in the Best Female R&B Performance category in favor of Aretha's version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water." As usual, Aretha took home the Grammy. In fact between 1967 and 1974 she won the prize every year, for hits like "Respect," "Chain Of Fools," "Share Your Love With Me," "Don't Play That song," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Young, Gifted & Black," "Master Of Eyes," and "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing."

Aretha Franklin didn't reach the heights of "Spanish Harlem" for another 16 years. After "Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" climbed to #3 in 1974 Aretha didn't return to the Top 10 while on Atlantic Records. As the decade ended, she jumped ship from Atlantic Records to Arista and earned a #3 hit with "Freeway Of Love" in 1985. Her newfound pop crossover success continued with 1986's Aretha LP, which included the Top 30 "Jimmy Lee" and a version of the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" produced by and featuring Keith Richards. A collaboration with British superstar George Michael returned her to the #1 position, when "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" topped the charts in 1987, the same year she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Subsequent honors include becoming a Kennedy Center honoree in 1994, and being bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

In all, Aretha charted 73 hits on the Billboard pop charts, the most of any female artist and ninth-most of all artists as of 2018. In 2010, Aretha denied she was suffering from rumored pancreatic cancer when she underwent surgery for an undisclosed illness. In 2017 she canceled a series of concerts citing "doctor's orders," and her last public performance was on Nov. 2, 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York. She died on Aug. 16, 2018, in her Detroit home after a battle with advanced pancreatic cancer. She was 76.

- Christopher G. Feldman, The Billboard Book of No. 2 Singles, Billboard, 2000.