Aretha Franklin

Several Grammy award wins, the first women to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and dubbed as the Queen Of Soul. Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Aretha was born to parents, Barbra Singers homemaker, and Clarence Franklin a baptist minster. Aretha Franklin started to sing due to her father being a minister. Clarence Franklin was one of the most respected and prominent ministers in the country, because of this she grew up surrounded by local and national celebrities. Franklin learned how to play piano by ear and soon understood the correct tones and pitches needed for songs. Aretha Franklin released her first single at the age of 18, under Columbia Records, it reached number ten on the BillBoard charts and her first record was released in January of 1961. Aretha Franklin while working for the label managed to score two more R&B hits, Operation Heartbreak and Won't Be Long. However the people at Columbia Records often felt they didn't understand the direction Aretha wanted to go with her music, and felt they ultimately failed to bring out the potential she had. Franklin in 1966 signed a contract with Atlantic Records, this would be where she released her first legendary single with the label called, Respect written by The King Of Soul, Otis Redding. With this single, Franklin would trigger a new vocal skill called, "call and response". This new skill with backup singer would help liven many of her singles. While being signed with Atlantic Records what followed was three additional top ten hits, Baby I Love You, A Natural Women,and Chain Of Fools. Franklin would also win her first two Grammy awards while being associate with Atlantic Records, and eight consecutive Grammys for best female R&B vocal category. Franklin had not only achieved her dream of becoming a musical sensation but stood out as a significant person in the civil rights movement for her single with Otis Redding, Respect. The song helped send a message to Americans of equality,peace,and justice. In the sixties Franklin continued to release Pop hits such as Think, I Say A Little Prayer, and Ain't No Way. After these amazing hits to many listeners she was seen as The Queen Of Soul. In the 1970's she started releasing more gospel hits such as Don't Play That Song,Rocksteady, and Daydreaming. It was foreseeable that Franklin would soon stumble upon a masterpiece which would be the best selling gospel album of all time, which she did in 1972 with her album, Amazing Grace. In the mid 70's even though she was releasing hit songs, she soon began to lose touch with her soul-pop audiences due to the disco genre making it's entrance into mainstream music. In 1979 she released an album in order to gain the audience of disco lovers called, La Diva. La Diva sold less than 50,000 copies and was marked as the lowest point in Franklin's career. In June,10,1979 her father, Clarence Franklin was shot by a mugger, this left Clarence Franklin in a coma for five years and Aretha decided to move back to Detroit to take care of her father. Clarence Franklin died on July,27,1984. In 1980 along with several other musicians such as Ray Charles and James Brown, Aretha Franklin appeared in the hit-movie, The Blues Brothers. In 1982 she soon returned to the R&B top ten charts with her hit album, Jump To It featuring Luther Vandross. It sold more than 600,000 copies and was gold-certified managing to stay on number one for seven weeks. AIn 1985 Franklin released an album which featured an unique never before heard element of rock. The album was called "Who's Zoomin Who?" and soon went on to receive platinum certified success. The album also featured a hit-song with George Michael called, I Know You Were Waiting For Me and the album went on to sell more than one million copies. In 1987, Aretha Franklin sang the theme song to the sitcom created by Bill Cosby, A Different World. In 1989 she released a pop album which featured Elton John,James Brown, The Four Tops, Kenny G,and Whitney Houston called Through The Storm. In 1992 Aretha Franklin sang the song Someday We'll All Be Free to the soundtrack to the biopic movie, Malcolm X. Aretha Franklin in 1993 sang at Bill Clinton's inauguration. Franklin at a slower rate in the mid-late 90's continued to release albums and singles working with new artists such as BabyFace,Jermaine Dupri,Sean "P Diddy" Combs,and Lauryn Hill along with her label, Arista Records. In 2003, she had ended the 23 year relationship with being apart of the Arista label and opened her own label called, Aretha. Franklin released her first album on the label called, A Woman Falling Out Of Love in 2011, it marked her fifty years in show business. Aretha Franklin will be known as one of the most influential singers of all time, Aretha Franklin will not only be seen as a tremendous singer but as an activist who talked about the world through her music, and used music as the tool for truth, justice, and soul.