"Car Wash" is a song by the American soul and R&B band Rose Royce. Written and arranged by the ex-Motown producer Norman Whitfield, the song was the group's first single and one of the most notable successes of the 1970s disco era. "Car Wash", the theme of the 1976 film Car Wash, was Rose Royce's most successful single and the lead single from their first studio album, the Car Wash soundtrack. Reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles charts, "Car Wash" also peaked at number three on the National Disco Action Top 30 chart and reached number nine on the UK Singles Chart in February 1977. The song was covered in 2004 by Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott, who released their version as the single for the Shark Tale soundtrack. Background The former Motown Records producer Norman Whitfield had been commissioned to record the soundtrack album for Car Wash by the director Michael Schultz. Although Whitfield did not want the project, he decided to do so, both for financial incentives as well as the chance to give Rose Royce, a disco/funk backing band that Whitfield signed to his own label in 1975, the exposure they needed to become mainstream. Unable to develop a theme song for the film, inspiration finally struck Whitfield while watching a game of basketball, and he wrote his first draft of "Car Wash" on a paper bag from a fried chicken eatery. The resulting song set the mood and tone for the comedy film it was commissioned for Rose Royce's lead singer Rose Norwalt (Gwen Dickey). It describes a fun and easy-going car washing business, where everything is "always cool/and the boss don't mind sometimes if you act a fool". The Car Wash soundtrack, a double album, was Rose Royce's first album, and the title track was their first single. "Car Wash" sold 2 million copies and was a number one success on both the Billboard popular and R&B charts in the United States and a top ten success in the United Kingdom. The song was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week, from January 23 to January 29, 1977, replacing "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder and replaced by "Torn Between Two Lovers" by Mary MacGregor. The Car Wash soundtrack album, entirely recorded by Rose Royce and Whitfield, spawned two more successful singles, "I Wanna Get Next