OBITUARY: Aretha Franklin, 76, the Queen of Soul · 4:35pm Aug 16th, 2018
Just three days ago, Aretha Franklin was reported to be gravely ill at her home in Riverfront Towers in Detroit. She was reported to be under hospice care and surrounded by friends and family. Stevie Wonder and Jesse Jackson, among others, had visited her. Today, she died at home, aged 76. The cause was reported to be advanced pancreatic cancer.
Aretha Franklin was an American singer and songwriter. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was minister. In 1960, at the age of 18, she embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records; it's been said the label had problems trying to market her as a talent. After signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as "Respect", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Spanish Harlem" and "Think". By the end of the 1960s she was being called "The Queen of Soul".
Franklin recorded acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967), Lady Soul (1968), Young, Gifted and Black (1972) and Amazing Grace (1972) before experiencing problems with her record company by the mid-1970s. When her father Clarence was shot in 1979, Franklin left Atlantic and signed with Arista Records, where she found success with the albums Jump to It (1982) and Who's Zoomin' Who? (1985), and had a very memorable part in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. In 1998, Franklin received international acclaim for singing the operatic aria "Nessun dorma" at the Grammys of that year, replacing Luciano Pavarotti. Later that year, she scored her final Top 40 song with "A Rose Is Still a Rose".
Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and 20 number-one R&B singles, giving her the most continuous stream of chart hits by a female artist in the chart's history. Franklin's other popular and well known hits include "Rock Steady", "Jump to It", "Freeway of Love", "Who's Zoomin' Who", "Chain Of Fools", "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)", "Something He Can Feel", "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (with George Michael), and a remake of The Rolling Stones song "Jumpin' Jack Flash".
Franklin won 18 Grammy Awards and is among the best-selling musical artists of all time, selling over 75 million records worldwide. Throughout her career, Franklin was awarded a multitude of honors, including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; she was the first female performer ever to be inducted. She was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In August 2012, Franklin was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Franklin is listed in at least two all-time lists on Rolling Stone magazine, including the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
The thought that such a wonderful and talented woman grew up in the Bethel cult makes me physically ill.