Aretha Franklin (1942-2018) was the Queen of Soul. This musical icon crossed genres and dazzled fans for decades.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
Today we’re talking about the Queen of Soul. This musical icon crossed genres and dazzled fans for decades. Her rendition of the song “Respect” became a rallying cry for social justice movements of her time and still serves as a popular campaign anthem. She won 19 Grammy Awards, including one for lifetime achievement, and was the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Let’s talk about the one and only Aretha Franklin.
Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 25, 1942 to Barbara Siggers Franklin and Rev. Clarence LaVaughn Franklin. By the time she was four, Aretha’s family had moved from Memphis to Buffalo, New York, before settling in Detroit, Michigan.
Growing up, Aretha was surrounded by music. Her mother was a gospel singer and played the piano and her father, a minister, sang too.
At the age of 6, Aretha’s parents separated and Aretha stayed with her father. Her mother passed away a few years later.
Aretha’s father’s house was often home to visiting musicians, from Dinah Washington to Sam Cooke to Mahalia Jackson. Aretha’s sisters, Erma and Carolyn, were also musically inclined and sang and wrote songs throughout their lives.
Aretha had an amazing ear for music. Despite the fact that she never learned to read music, her brother later said that by the time Arethat was 10 years old, she could hear a song once and immediately be able to sing it and play it on the piano.
Aretha made her performing debut as a member of the choir at New Bethel Baptist Church, where her father preached. It didn’t take long for her incredible talent to be recognized. When she was 12 years old, she went on tour performing with other popular gospel artists.
That same year, Aretha got pregnant and had her first child at the age of 12, a son named Clarence. Two years later, she had a second son, Edward.
Throughout her life, Aretha would return to her roots singing gospel music. But when she was 18 years old, she switched her primary focus to secular music. She moved to New York City, parting from her sons who stayed with her family in Detroit.
In 1960, at just 18 years old, Aretha signed a contract with Columbia Records. Her early albums touched on all sorts of genres from jazz to blues to Broadway to R&B. Part of that may have been a strategic choice, though perhaps not a wholly successful one. In 1961 Aretha had married a man named Ted White who became her manager. He believed that releasing albums in different genres could attract a broader audience, but later admitted that it may have confused consumers.
It wasn’t until she switched to Atlantic Records at the end of 1966 that Aretha’s fame and commercial success really took off. There, alongside producer Jerry Wexler, Aretha’s full sound took shape. In 1967, she released her first hit to sell a million copies, a song called “I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You).” It reached number 1 on the R&B charts and number 9 on the pop charts. She mixed gospel and R&B, often improvising with other musicians to develop songs and to add additional vocals. Aretha was crowned the Queen of Soul.
In the late 1960s, with the Civil Rights Movement and the feminist movement in full swing, Aretha’s rendition of Otis Redding’s “Respect” struck a chord with activists across the nation.
Aretha later wrote about the song’s release in her autobiography. She said, “It was the need of the nation, the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother; the fireman, the teacher -- everyone wanted respect.”
For “Respect,” Aretha won her first two Grammy Awards. And the hits kept coming with songs including “Think,” “Chain of Fools,” “Baby I Love you” and “I Say a Little Prayer.”
In 1968, Aretha sang at the Democratic National Convention and at a memorial service for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
While Aretha’s professional success continued to grow, her personal life was heading in the opposite direction. She separated from and eventually divorced her husband, Ted White, with whom she had a son, Ted White Jr., who would later lead Aretha’s band. Aretha and Ted Sr.’s relationship had been rocky and even violent. Aretha also struggled with alcoholism during the late 1960s.
. As the 1970s rolled around, Aretha continued to release pop and gospel hits. . She toured across the U.S. and in Europe and Latin America. Towards the end of the decade, however, the disco era briefly displaced her spot at the top of the charts .
In 1978, Aretha married actor Glynn Turman. The following year, on June 10, 1979, Aretha’s father was shot twice in his home. He stayed in a coma until he died in 1984. After Aretha and Glynn separated in 1982, , Aretha moved back to the Detroit area to be closer to her family. .
Still, throughout the 1980s, Aretha continued to release hit albums in multiple genres: pop, R&B, and gospel. She recorded duets with everyone from George Michael to Elton John, Whitney Houston, and James Brown.
In the early and mid-90s, Aretha slowed her prolific musical output . Then in 1998, she proved her ability to perform extended to yet another, quite different genre: Opera. When Luciano Pavarotti had to cancel a performance at the Grammy Awards that year, Aretha stepped in and sang Puccini’s famous- and famously difficult- aria Nessun Dorma to great acclaim. She also battled other incredible vocalists on a TV show on VH1 called “Divas Live” with much success.
She continued releasing music throughout the rest of her life- including a 1998 album featuring a young producer named Lauryn Hill- and fans remained eager for more.The power and passion of her voice dazzled audiences for decades. Aretha received honorary degrees from colleges including Yale, Princeton, and Harvard. In 2005, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S. In 2009, she sang “My Country Tis of Thee” at the inauguration of President Barack Obama to a crowd of more than 1 million people.
On August 16, 2018, Aretha Franklin died at her home in Detroit. She was 76 years old.
All month, we’re talking about musicians. For more on why we’re doing what we’re doing check out our newsletter, Womannica Weekly. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram @Encyclopediawomannica and you can follow me directly on twitter @jennymkaplan.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!