Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Regarded as the "Queen of Soul", she was twice named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest singer of all time.
As a child, Franklin was noticed for her gospel singing at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was a minister. At the age of 18 she was signed as a recording artist for Columbia Records. While her career did not immediately flourish, Franklin found acclaim and commercial success after signing with Atlantic Records in 1966. There she recorded significant hit albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul and Aretha Now in the late 1960s and Young, Gifted and Black, Amazing Grace and Sparkle in the 1970s, before experiencing problems with the record company. Franklin left Atlantic in 1979 and signed with Arista Records, where her career was revived with the hit albums Jump to It, Who's Zoomin' Who?, Aretha and A Rose Is Still a Rose.
Franklin is one of the best-selling music artists, with more than 75 million records sold worldwide. She had 112 singles on the US Billboard charts, including 73 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 96 R&B entries and 20 number-one R&B singles. Although her rendition of "Respect" has been referred to as her signature song, Franklin is known for other hit singles such as "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Chain of Fools", "Think", "I Say a Little Prayer", "Rock Steady", "Day Dreaming", "Freeway of Love" and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (a duet with George Michael). She also made a featured appearance in the 1980 musical-comedy film The Blues Brothers.
Franklin received numerous honors throughout her career. She won 18 Grammy Awards out of 44 nominations, including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (1968–1975), as well as a Grammy Living Legend Award and Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1987, she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her other inductions include the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012, and posthumously the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2020 and the Volunteer State Music Hall of Fame in 2026. In 2019, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded her a posthumous special citation "for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades".
Early life
Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, to Barbara (née Siggers) and Clarence LaVaughn "C. L." Franklin. She was delivered at her family's home at 406 Lucy Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee. Her father was a Baptist minister and circuit preacher originally from Shelby, Mississippi, and her mother was an accomplished piano player and vocalist. C. L. and Barbara Franklin both had children from prior relationships in addition to the four children they had together. When Aretha was two years old, the family moved to Buffalo, New York. By the time Aretha was five C. L. Franklin had permanently moved the family to Detroit, Michigan, where he took over the pastorship of the New Bethel Baptist Church.
The Franklins had a troubled marriage because of C. L. Franklin's infidelities, and they separated in 1948. At that time Barbara Franklin returned to Buffalo with Aretha's half-brother, Vaughn. After the separation, Aretha recalled seeing her mother in Buffalo during the summer, and Barbara Franklin frequently visited her children in Detroit. Aretha's mother died of a heart attack on March 7, 1952, before Aretha's 10th birthday. Several women, including Aretha's grandmother Rachel and Mahalia Jackson, took turns helping with the children at the Franklin home. During this time Aretha learned how to play piano by ear. She also attended public school in Detroit, going through her first year at Northern High School but dropping out during her second year.
Aretha gave birth to her first child, Clarence, when she was only 12 years old. She originally claimed that the father was a schoolmate named Donald Burke but one of her handwritten wills, discovered in 2019, revealed that the father was Edward Jordan Sr., who was 12–13 years older than her.
Aretha's father's emotionally driven sermons resulted in his being known as the man with the "million-dollar voice". He earned thousands of dollars for sermons in various churches across the country. His fame led to his home being visited by various celebrities. Among the visitors were gospel musicians Clara Ward, James Cleveland and early Caravans members Albertina Walker and Inez Andrews. Martin Luther King Jr, Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke all became friends of C. L. Franklin.; Ward was romantically involved with Aretha's father from around 1949 until Ward's death in 1973, though Aretha "preferred to view them strictly as friends". Ward also served as a role model to the young Aretha.
Musical career 1952–1960: Beginnings Just after her mother's death, Franklin began singing solos at New Bethel Baptist Church, debuting with the hymn "Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me". When Franklin was 12, her father began managing her; he would take her on the road with him, during his "gospel caravan" tours for her to perform in various churches. He also helped her sign her first recording deal with J.V.B. Records. Franklin was featured on vocals and piano. In 1956, J.V.B. released Franklin's first single, "Never Grow Old", backed with "You Grow Closer". "Precious Lord (Part One)" backed with "Precious Lord (Part Two)" followed in 1959. These four tracks, with the addition of "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood", were released on side one of the 1956 album, Spirituals. This was reissued by Battle Records in 1962, under the same title. In 1965, Checker Records released Songs of Faith, featuring the five tracks from the 1956 Spirituals album, with the addition of four previously unreleased recordings. Aretha was only 14 when Songs of Faith was recorded.
During this time, Franklin would occasionally travel with the Soul Stirrers. As a young gospel singer, Franklin spent summers on the gospel circuit in Chicago and stayed with Mavis Staples's family. According to music producer Quincy Jones, while Franklin was still young, Dinah Washington let him know that "Aretha was the 'next one. Franklin and her father traveled to California, where she met singer Sam Cooke. Other influences in her youth included Marvin Gaye, as well as Ray Charles and Cooke, "two of Franklin's greatest influences". Also important was James Cleveland, known as the King of Gospel music, "who helped to focus her early career as a gospel singer"; Cleveland had been recruited by her father as a pianist for the Southern California Community Choir. At the age of 16, Franklin went on tour with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and she would ultimately sing at his funeral in 1968.
1960–1966: Columbia years
After turning 18, Franklin confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke in recording pop music, and moved to New York. Serving as her manager, C. L. Franklin agreed to the move and helped to produce a two-song demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, who agreed to sign her in 1960, as a "five-percent artist". During this period, Franklin would be coached by choreographer Cholly Atkins to prepare for her pop performances. Before signing with Columbia, Sam Cooke tried to persuade Franklin's father to sign her with his label, RCA Victor, but she had already decided to go with Columbia. Berry Gordy had also asked Franklin and her elder sister Erma to sign with his Tamla label, but C. L. Franklin turned Gordy down, as he felt Tamla was not yet an established label. Franklin's first Columbia single, "Today I Sing the Blues", was issued in September 1960 and later reached the top 10 of the Hot R&B Sides chart.
In January 1961, Columbia issued Franklin's first album, Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo. The album featured her first single to chart the Billboard Hot 100, "Won't Be Long", which also peaked at number 7 on the R&B chart. Mostly produced by Clyde Otis, Franklin's Columbia recordings saw her performing in diverse genres, such as standards, vocal jazz, blues, doo-wop and rhythm and blues. Before the year was out, Franklin scored her first hit-single with her rendition of the standard "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody". By the end of 1961, Franklin was named as a "new-star female vocalist" in DownBeat magazine. In 1962, Columbia issued two more albums, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin and The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin, the latter of which became her first charting album, reaching number 69 on the Billboard Top LPs – Monaural chart.
In the 1960s, during a performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago, WVON radio personality Pervis Spann announced that Franklin should be crowned "the Queen of Soul". Spann ceremonially placed a crown on her head. By 1964, Franklin began recording more pop music, reaching the top 10 on the R&B chart with the ballad "Runnin' Out of Fools", in early 1965. She had two R&B charted singles in 1965 and 1966, with the songs "One Step Ahead" and "Cry Like a Baby", while also reaching the Easy Listening charts with the ballads "You Made Me Love You" and "(No, No) I'm Losing You". By the mid-1960s, Franklin was making $100,000 per year from countless nightclub and theater performances. Also during that period, she appeared on rock-and-roll shows, such as Hollywood a Go-Go and Shindig! However, she struggled with commercial success while at Columbia. Label executive John H. Hammond later said he felt Columbia did not understand Franklin's early gospel background and failed to bring that aspect out further during her period there.
1966–1979: Atlantic years
In November 1966, Franklin's Columbia recording contract expired; at that time, she owed the company money because record sales had not met expectations. Producer Jerry Wexler convinced her to move to Atlantic Records. Wexler decided that he wanted to take advantage of her gospel background; his philosophy in general was to encourage a "tenacious form of rhythm & blues that became increasingly identified as soul". The Atlantic days would lead to a series of hits for Aretha Franklin between 1967 and early 1972; her rapport with Wexler helped in the creation of the majority of her peak recordings on the Atlantic label. The next seven years' achievements were less impressive. However, according to Rolling Stone, "they weren't as terrible as some claimed, they were pro forma and never reached for new heights".