"For Once in My Life" is a song written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records' Stein & Van Stock publishing company, and first recorded in 1965.
It was written and first recorded as a slow ballad, in 1965 by Connie Haines, but the first version to be released was by Jean DuShon in 1966. Other early versions of the ballad were issued by Nancy Wilson, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Diana Ross & the Supremes and Tony Bennett, whose recording was the first to reach the pop charts.
The most familiar and successful version of "For Once in My Life" is an uptempo arrangement by Stevie Wonder, recorded in 1967. Wonder's version, issued on Motown's Tamla label, was a top-three hit in the United States and the United Kingdom in late 1968 and early 1969.