87: Erma Franklin, “(Take a Little) Piece of My Heart” (no.9, 1992)

The most prominent vocals Aretha’s elder sister laid down were the backing vocals on “Respect”; “Piece of My Heart”, a song building classically and beautifully towards its chorus, formed the highpoint of her own, greatly more erratic recording career - and, even then, only made the UK charts 25 years after its original release with the help of a jeans commercial. Later covered by Janis Joplin, Sammy Hagar, Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone (together at last), and Beverly Knight. I’ll stick with the original, thanks.