I Got a Woman, originally titled Ive Got a Woman, is a 1954 single by Ray Charles and His Band, co-written with Renald Richard. It blends gospel fervor with secular lyrics and a jazz-inspired rhythm and blues backdrop, drawing on It Must Be Jesus by the Southern Tones and a bridge inspired by Big Bill Broonzy's Living on Easy Street. The song was recorded on November 18, 1954 at WGST studios in Atlanta and released by Atlantic as 45-1050 with Come Back Baby as the B-side, later appearing on the 1957 album Ray Charles (reissued as Hallelujah I Love Her So). It became Charles's first big hit, climbing to No 1 on the R&B charts in January 1955 and is regarded as a prototype for soul music. The track was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1990 and has influenced many artists, including Elvis Presley who covered it in 1956. The Beatles performed it on BBC radio in the early 1960s but never released a studio version.
