Arethra franklin biography

Home / Celebrity Biographies / Arethra franklin biography

With fans and critics alike impressed with her performances, she successfully proved that the Queen of Soul still reigned supreme.

'Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics'

In 2014 Franklin underscored that point with Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, which reached No.

13 on the pop charts and No. 3 R&B.

Throughout her life, Franklin experienced significant changes in her marital status. Growing up in a religious household, Aretha was exposed to gospel music at a young age. Self-taught in piano, she began to perform regularly at her father's church, gaining valuable experience that would come to define her style as an artist.

In 1966 she and her new husband and manager, Ted White, decided a move was in order, and Franklin signed to Atlantic. Her marriage to Ted White ended in 1969. In addition, she earned a staggering 18 Grammy Awards, making her one of the most decorated artists in Grammy history, a feat shared by only a few, including Alison Krauss and Beyoncé Knowles.

She also had Top 10 hits with "Baby I Love You,'' "Think," "Chain of Fools,'' "I Say a Little Prayer," "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."

Dubbed the 'Queen of Soul'

Franklin's chart dominance soon earned her the title Queen of Soul, while at the same time she also became a symbol of Black empowerment during the civil rights movement.

She did, however, find a brief respite from slumping sales with the 1976 soundtrack to the Warner Brothers film Sparkle — which topped the R&B charts and made the Top 20 in pop — as well as an invitation to perform at the 1977 presidential inauguration of Jimmy Carter. In 1979 her father was shot in his home and remained in a coma for five years before dying.

When she was two years old her family moved to Detroit, Michigan where her father became minister at New Bethel Baptist Church. Her record labels include Columbia, Atlantic and Arista among others. As her popularity waned and her father's health declined, Franklin was also saddled with a massive bill from the IRS.

However, a cameo in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers helped Franklin revive her flagging career.

But this did not slow Franklin's steady rise, and the new decade brought more hit singles, including "Don't Play That Song," "Spanish Harlem" and her cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters."

'Amazing Grace'

Spurred by Mahalia Jackson's passing and a subsequent resurgence of interest in gospel music, Franklin returned to her musical origins for the 1972 album Amazing Grace, which sold more than 2 million copies and went on to become the best-selling gospel album at the time.

Franklin's success continued throughout the 1970s, as she branched out to work with producers such as Curtis Mayfield and Quincy Jones and expanded her repertoire to include rock and pop covers.

By the age of 14, she had recorded some of her earliest tracks at his church, which were released by a small label as the album Songs of Faith in 1956. Her song “Respect,” was described as “an anthem for the Civil Rights movement,” and in February 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. presented her with an honorary award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

In February 2017, the 74-year-old Queen of Soul told Detroit radio station WDIV Local 4 that she was collaborating with Stevie Wonder to release a new album. In 1987 she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2008 she won her 18th Grammy Award, making her one of the most honored artists in Grammy history.

Early Life and Career

The fourth of five children, Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Baptist preacher Reverend Clarence La Vaughan "C.

Her single "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" not only topped the charts but refined her powerful sound with the renowned Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. In 1978 she also married actor Glynn Turman.

A string of chart failures ended Franklin's relationship with Atlantic in 1979. I'm happy with that.