Aretha Franklin, the music icon, legendary singer and “Queen of Soul” loved by millions whose history-making career spanned six decades, died on Thursday, her longtime publicist announced. She was 76.
Gospel Roots
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 25, 1942 to C.L. Franklin, a prominent Baptist preacher, and Barbara Siggers Franklin, Aretha Louise Franklin grew up singing gospel in her father’s New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit.
Her first recording — “Spirituals” — came out on a local label in 1956 when she was just 14 years old.
She signed with Columbia records in 1960, releasing her first album “The Great Aretha Franklin.”
That brought her several R&B hits, and one which broke into Billboard’s top 40 in 1961, “Rock-A-Bye Your Baby (With A Dixie Melody).”
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It was also reported that late Franklin was married twice, her first marriage was to Theodore White in 1961 at age 19, despite objections from her father. The union crashed after several reports of domestic violence in 1969.
Franklin then married her second husband, actor Glynn Turman on April 11, 1978, at her father's church and became the stepmother of Turman's three children from a previous marriage. In 1982, the union crashed after Franklin returned to Michigan from California, and they officially got divorced in 1984.
Royalty
But nothing dimmed her status as music royalty. In 1968 she sang her heart out at the funeral of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
She also sang at the October 2011 dedication of the King memorial in Washington, stirring the crowd with a rendition of the gospel anthem “Precious Lord.”
She performed at the inaugurations of two US presidents, delivering a stirring rendition of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” at the January 2009 ceremony for Barack Obama, the first African-American president, while wearing a widely remarked grey hat with a big bow.
And in 2015 she sang “Amazing Grace” before Pope Francis as he visited Philadelphia for the massive Festival of Families.
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In 1987, Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“She has taken on many roles — the devout gospel singer, the sensual R&B siren, the pop crossover phenom, Lady Soul — and dominated them all,” the Hall said in its biography.
Franklin reached the top of the pop charts in 1987 with “I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me),” a duet with George Michael.
She was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1994 and in 2005, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honor.
‘Peerless’
Singer Annie Lennox called Franklin “simply peerless.”
“She has reigned supreme, and will always be held in the highest firmament of stars as the most exceptional vocalist, performer and recording artist the world has ever been privileged to witness,” Lennox tweeted.
“Salute to the Queen. The greatest vocalist I’ve ever known,” tweeted John Legend.
Franklin — who was widely known by only her first name, in true diva style — rose from singing gospel in her father’s church to regularly topping rhythm and blues and pop charts in the 1960s and 1970s.
Other than “Respect,” her powerful cover of the Otis Redding tune that became a feminist anthem and her calling card, Franklin had dozens of Top 40 singles, according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Other hits include “Day Dreaming” (1972), “Jump to It” (1982), “Freeway of Love” (1985), and “A Rose Is Still A Rose” (1998). A 1986 duet with George Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” hit number one in several countries.
Franklin’s declining health was first disclosed on the Showbiz 411 website late Sunday by Roger Friedman, a reporter and family friend.
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The Detroit News later reported that she was in hospice care, as artists from across the musical spectrum offered well wishes to the singer who lived in Detroit — the Motor City, home of Motown — most of her life.
In 2005, Franklin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest award for an American civilian — by then-president George W. Bush.
In 2010, she suffered serious health problems, but continued to perform until late last year, singing last in November 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York. That same year, Detroit named a street after her.
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