The Queen of Soul
Generations embraced her great voice, commanding presence.
Aretha Franklin sang at the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral in 1968 and the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009. For many, the world never existed without her powerful voice and equally commanding presence. Franklin, who died from pancreatic cancer on Thursday, Aug. 16, at her home in Detroit at age 76, was a singer, songwriter and arranger who reigned over the worlds of pop, rock, R&B and
gospel music for nearly six decades. But she was so much more. She was a civil rights activist, mother and an original diva.
She was the undisputed Queen of Soul.
“In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade — our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect,” Obama said in a joint statement with former first lady Michelle Obama released Thursday. “She helped us feel more connected to each other, more hopeful, more human.”
Franklin, whose Earthrattling ’60s singles “Respect” and “Think” fueled both the civil rights and women’s liberation movements, wasn’t just one of the greatest singers of her time but also one of the greatest interpreters of raw emotion, capable of channeling pain and joy through a voice that was both sensual and unforgiving.
“Aretha Franklin set the bar upon which every female singer has and will be measured,” producer Quincy Jones said in a statement. “And she did it with the professionalism, class, grace and humility that only a true Queen could.”
Aretha Louise Franklin was born March 25, 1942, in Memphis. Her mother, Barbara Siggers Franklin, was a gospel singer, and her father, the Rev. Clarence La Vaughan “C.L.” Franklin, was a nationally known and respected Baptist preacher.
The fourth of five children, Franklin was 2 years old when her family relocated to Detroit so her father could help establish the New Bethel Baptist Church. She grew up near Motown stars such as Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson and members of the Four Tops. But Franklin had a different upbringing.
In 1948, her mother separated from the family and moved to New York. She died four years later. Franklin stayed with her father, who encouraged her to sing alongside her sisters, Carolyn and Erma, in front of his 4,500-member congregation. She performed her first solo when she was 12, receiving a standing ovation. At an early age, she had the opportunity to perform with house guests such as Mahalia Jackson, Oscar Peterson and Clara Ward.
“My father being who he was, it certainly provided a foundation and a guiding light for us,” Franklin said in a 2010 interview with Time. “There was always really good gospel playing. No matter where you went in the house, there was always music.”
Franklin’s father, a fiery evangelist who released more than 70 albums of his sermons while maintaining a robust appetite for secular delights, eventually took the family act on the road in his Cadillac. Franklin embraced the lifestyle. At 12, she had her first child out of wedlock. Her second came two years later.
Snubbing Motown, she moved to New York and signed to Columbia Records in 1961, doing a spell in dingy blues clubs. An assortment of lifeless pop songs, novelty tunes and standards, including the single “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody,” failed to ignite her career.
Under the guidance of her first husband, Ted White, she struck again in 1967, signing to Atlantic Records and partnering with producer Jerry Wexler. By tapping the singer’s soul roots, they delivered a string of hits. “Respect,” which was initially recorded by Otis Redding, reached No. 1 on both the R&B and pop charts. Follow-up songs such as “Baby I Love You,’’ “Think,” “Chain of Fools,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” defined the era as much as the singer.
“It’s difficult to conceive of a world without her,” Barbra Streisand said via Twitter. “Not only was she a uniquely brilliant singer, but her commitment to civil rights made an indelible impact on the world.”
There were subsequent mainstream successes through the decades. But there was also immeasurable tragedy. Franklin scored the best-selling gospel album of all time with 1972’s “Amazing Grace,” recorded after the death of Mahalia Jackson and her split from White.
Shortly after Atlantic dropped her due to sagging record sales in 1978, Franklin divorced her second husband, Glynn Turman, and her father was shot twice during a home invasion robbery attempt. He was in a coma for five years before his death in 1984, just a year before Franklin returned to the charts in a big way with the synth-pop album “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”
Franklin made another comeback with 1998’s R&B hit “A Rose Is Still a Rose.”
For decades, Franklin’s deep aversion to flying kept her tethered to her home in Detroit but in 2015, she made a rare appearance at Oracle Arena in Oakland (her previous Bay Area appearance was in 1978 at the now-defunct Circle Star Theater in San Carlos) — where as a teenager she performed in concert with her father. The tour was in support of her studio album, “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics,” which features covers of songs originally made famous by an assortment of other female artists, such as Adele, Strei-
sand and Sinead O’Connor.
“Aretha set the world on fire musically,” said Narada Michael Walden, the Marin-based producer who worked with Franklin on four albums and her platinum-selling hit “Freeway of Love.” “Until recently, she was sending me ideas for new songs to ignite even more fire.”
Over the years, she influenced innumerable followers, including Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, Annie Lennox, Mary J. Blige and Beyoncé.
“Aretha Franklin was simply peerless,” Lennox said via Twitter. “She has reigned supreme, and will always be held in the highest firmament of stars as the most exceptional vocalist, performer and recording artist the world has ever been privileged to witness.”
But Franklin treated her disciples with reservation. “If you’re cute, you might be a star tomorrow,” she told the New York Times. “But coming up through the ranks of our generation, you had to have it, whatever it is.”
In 1987, Franklin became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Two months later, she sang “America the Beautiful” at WrestleMania 23.
Franklin was always unpredictable. She performed an aria from Puccini’s “Turandot,” “Nessun Dorma” — in Italian, with just moments to prepare — while filling in for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti at the 1998 Grammys.
Among her many honors, she earned a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys, the National Medal of Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and honorary doctorate of music degrees from the Berklee College of Music and Yale University.
“From seeing her as a baby singing and playing at the piano at her father’s home, to her giving a rousing performance at the White House, she has always been amazing,” Motown founder Berry Gordy said in a statement. “No matter how the music has changed over the years, she remained so relevant.”
In 2007, Franklin closed out a long relationship with Clive Davis’ major labels, J Records and Arista, with a collection of contemporary duets, “Jewels in the Crown.” She established her own imprint, Aretha’s Records, and released an album, “A Woman Falling Out of Love,” in 2011.
Franklin also wanted to make a film based on her 1999 autobiography, “Aretha: From These Roots,” but only on the condition that she got final approval for the cast and script. Hollywood wouldn’t budge.
Franklin canceled planned concerts this year after she was ordered by her doctor to stay off the road and rest up. She was originally scheduled to perform on her 76th birthday in March in Newark, N.J., and at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in April.
In 2017, the icon announced her plans to retire, saying she would perform at “some select things.” One of those select events was a gala for Elton John’s 25th anniversary of his AIDS foundation in November in New York City, where Franklin closed the event with a collection of songs including “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Freeway of Love.”
Abdul “Duke” Fakir, the lone surviving original member of the Four Tops, told the Associated Press on Monday, Aug. 13, they have been “very close” for decades and their most recent conversation was about a week ago by phone. Fakir said they talked after Franklin had stopped by his Detroit house when he wasn’t there.
“She was telling me she rides around the city every now and then — she talks about how beautiful it is again,” Fakir said. “We were reminiscing about how blessed we were — only a couple two of us are around from that era.”
Franklin was always certain to turn sorrow into something transcendent. It’s what she did.
“I’m a very versatile vocalist,” she once said. “That’s what I think a singer should be. Whatever it is, I can sing it.”