"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. There are differing accounts of its earliest versions, although it seems that it was first recorded by Connie Haines, but first released in 1966 by Jean DuShon. Other early versions of the ballad were issued by Nancy Wilson, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Diana Ross and Tony Bennett, whose recording was the first to reach the pop charts.