Today is Aretha Franklin’s birthday, the greatest soul singer of all time. The portrait above and her portrait on the musical reference work / birthday calendar below are made by me, Frieke.
Today is Aretha Franklin’s birthday, the greatest soul singer of all time. The portrait above and her portrait on the musical reference work / birthday calendar below are made by me, Frieke.
Aretha Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee. Her father, C.L. Franklin, was a Baptist preacher, and her mother, Barbara Siggers, was a gospel singer. Her parents divorced when she was young. Aretha's musical talent was discovered at a young age. She began singing with her sisters in the gospel choir of her father's church, the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father later became the pastor.
Aretha had taught herself to play the piano at a young age. Combined with her powerful voice, she became a prodigy who started performing at church events and gatherings when she was only 12 years old. Her father often accompanied her during these performances. However, her youth was not without difficulties. She became pregnant at a young age and gave birth to her first child, a son named Clarence, when she was 12. Her second child, Edward, followed two years later when she was 14. These pregnancies occurred during her teenage years, before she became the legendary singer we know today. The father of her children has not been publicly disclosed. Despite these challenges, Aretha continued her musical development and began performing in various clubs and venues in Detroit.
In 1960, Aretha moved to New York, where she signed with Columbia Records. They released the album Aretha in 1961, but her major breakthrough came when she signed with Atlantic Records in 1967. At Atlantic, she released a series of groundbreaking albums, including I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) and Lady Soul, which quickly earned her the title Queen of Soul. In 1968, at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (a close friend of her father), she passionately performed Mahalia Jackson's song Precious Lord.
Franklin's powerful voice, emotional depth, and technical skill made her a phenomenon in the music world. She released numerous hits, including Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Chain of Fools, and Think. Her music embodied the social changes and civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and she became an important symbol of empowerment for women and the African American community.
Throughout her career, Franklin received numerous awards, including 18 Grammy Awards, making her one of the most awarded artists of all time. In 1987, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and she also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian honors in the United States.
Surrounded by her friends and family, Aretha Franklin, the greatest singer of all time, passed away on August 16, 2018, in Detroit, from pancreatic cancer.
On August 13, 2021, the film Respect was released.
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