Aretha Louise Franklin, born March 25, 1942 and died August 16, 2018, was an American singer-songwriter. As a child, she sang gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church, Detroit. Her father, C. L. Franklin was her minister. At the age of 18, Franklin began a secular career. She recorded for Columbia Records, but only had modest success. Franklin was signed to Atlantic Records in 1967. She achieved commercial success with songs like “Respect”, (You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman), “Spanish Harlem”, and “Think”. She was known as “the Queen of Soul” by the end of 1960s. Franklin released acclaimed albums like I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You (1967), Lady Soul ( 1968), Young, Gifted and Black ( 1972) and Amazing Grace (1972). She was then faced with problems with her record label in the mid-1970s. Franklin signed with Arista Records after her father was killed in 1979. She had great success with the albums Jump to It (1982), and Who’s Zoomin’ who? (1985), and her role in The Blues Brothers’ 1980 film. Franklin won international acclaim in 1998 for her performance of the opera aria “Nessun Dorma” at that year’s Grammy Awards. She was replacing Luciano Pavarotti. She scored her last Top 40 hit with “A Rose Is Still a Rose” later that year. Franklin charted 112 singles on Billboard. These included 77 Hot 100 entries and 17 top ten pop singles.
