Aretha Franklin

About the Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklinwas an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the “Queen of Soul”, Rolling Stone magazine twice named her 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 once she signed with Atlantic Records in 1966. She recorded albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love Youand A Rose Is Still a RoseA Natural Woman”, “Chain of Fools”, “Think”, “I Say a Little Prayer”, “Ain’t No Way”, “Call Me”, “Don’t Play That Songand “A Rose Is Still a Rose”. Aside from music, she appeared in the 1980 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), a Grammy Awards Living Legend honor 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. 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”.