'Aretha Louise Franklin' (born
March 25,
1942) is an
American R&B,
Pop and
Gospel singer,
songwriter, and
pianist. She has been called for many years "'The Queen Of Soul'", but many also call her "Lady Soul," as well as the more affectionate "Sister Ree." She is renowned for her soul recordings but is also adept at
jazz,
rock,
blues,
pop, gospel, and even
opera.
[1] She is generally regarded as one of the greatest
vocalists ever, due to her ability to inject whatever she may be singing about with passion, soul and sheer conviction.
Franklin is the second most honored female singer in Grammy history after
Alison Krauss. Ms. Franklin has won seventeen competitive
Grammy Awards. Aretha has also been awarded the Living Legend Grammy and the Lifetime Achievement Grammy as well. She won an unprecedented eight consecutive trophies between 1967 and 1974, during which time the category of
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, was nicknamed 'The Aretha Award'.
Franklin has had a total of 20 #1 R&B singles - a record unsurpassed by any other recording act. Two of them became #1 hit songs on the
Billboard Hot 100 as well,
"Respect" in the 1960s and her 1980s duet with
George Michael, "
I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)", and many of her singles have hit Top 20, Top 10, and Top 5 positions.
She is one of only three musicians (the others being
Madonna and
Marvin Gaye) who have placed a single on every charted position of the Billboard top ten pop singles chart.
Franklin has spent the past 25 years living in her adopted hometown of
Detroit,
Michigan.
Biography
Early life and career
Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, in
Memphis, Tennessee to
Rev. C. L. Franklin, a
Baptist minister, and
Barbara Siggers Franklin. Aretha's parents had a troubled relationship and they separated when Aretha was six. Siggers died of a
heart attack when Franklin was ten. The third of four siblings, Aretha's father's first pulpit after Memphis was in
Buffalo, New York. The family subsequently moved to
Detroit, Michigan where Rev. Franklin assumed the pulpit of the New Bethel Baptist Church, and became a legend nationally as a preacher. Adept at the piano as well as having a gifted voice, Franklin became a child prodigy. By the age of fourteen, she was given a record deal with
Checker Records, where her father recorded his sermons and gospel vocal recordings and issued ''The Gospel Soul of Aretha Franklin'' in 1956. Her earlier influences included
Clara Ward and
Mahalia Jackson, both of whom spent a lot of time in Aretha's home. Teenage pregnancies derailed Franklin's gospel career when she gave birth to the first and second of her four sons in 1955 and 1957. By the time she returned to singing, instead of performing gospel and inspired by the successes of idols
Dinah Washington and
Sam Cooke, Aretha decided to secure herself a deal as a pop artist. After being offered contracts from
Motown and
RCA, Franklin signed with
Columbia Records in 1960. Her recordings during that time reflected a
jazz influence inspired by Washington and hardly reflected on her gospel roots. Franklin initially scored a few hits on Columbia including her version of "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby (With A Dixie Melody)", which peaked at number 37 on the Billboard
Pop Singles chart in 1961, and the Top 10 R&B hits, "Today I Sing The Blues", "Won't Be Long" and "Operation Heartbreak". However, by the end of 1966, with little commercial success obtained during six years on Columbia and desperate for a sound, she accepted an offer to sign with
Atlantic Records. According to Franklin years later, "they made me sit down on the piano and the hits came."
The Queen of Soul
In 1967, Franklin issued her first Atlantic single, "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)", a
bluesy ballad that introduced listeners to Franklin's gospel-throated vocals. Produced by
Jerry Wexler, the song became Franklin's breakthrough single hitting the Top 10 on the Hot 100 and holding the #1 spot for an amazing 7 weeks on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. The B-side to the single, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" introduced a more gospel element to Franklin's developing sound and charted well on the R&B side. Her next single, "
Respect", firmly launched Franklin to superstardom. Written and originally recorded by
Otis Redding, Franklin's
feminist version of the song became a monster hit reaching #1 on both the R&B ''and'' the Pop charts and helping her Atlantic debut album, ''I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You'', reach
million-seller status. For the next ten months, Franklin issued top ten hits such as "Baby I Love You", "
Chain Of Fools" and "
(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman". In early
1968 she won her first two
Grammies for "Respect" including the first Grammy given to an artist in the
Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance category. Because of this, Franklin would automatically be a winner of eight Best R&B Female Vocal Performance categories in a row before
Natalie Cole broke the streak with her single, "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)", which ironically was originally given to Franklin who passed on it. Throughout the next seven years, Franklin continued to score hit singles including "
Think", "The House That Jack Built", "I Say A Little Prayer", "Call Me", "Don't Play That Song For Me" and "Spanish Harlem" which reached #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 and even gave Aretha her first Top 10 ''Adult Contemporary'' (at the time labeled Easy Listening) hit. By the end of the 1960s, Franklin's stance as ''The Queen of Soul'' was firmly stamped. Her albums were also hot sellers, one in particular,
1972's ''
Amazing Grace'' eventually sold over two million US copies, becoming the best-selling gospel album of all time. Franklin's hit streak continued into the mid-1970s though they were starting to come at a less frequent pace. 1973's emotional plea "Angel", produced by
Quincy Jones and written by Franklin's sister
Carolyn, was a stand out single that became yet another #1 on the R&B chart. The subsequent album, however, ''
Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky)'' was an artistic and commercial disaster. 1974's Gold-certified "
Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)" hit #1 R&B and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. By 1975, however, with the expanding exposure of
Disco, relations between Franklin and Atlantic Records were really starting to strain. As a result, Aretha was recording poor material such as 1975's listless ''You'' album and her record sales declined dramatically. Franklin had peaked while the music industry was moving on to younger black female singers such as
Natalie Cole,
Chaka Khan, and
Donna Summer.
Decline and tragedy
In 1976, Franklin's
Curtis Mayfield-produced soundtrack of the film, ''
Sparkle'', briefly brought Franklin out of her funk. It was her first album to reach Gold status since the landmark ''Amazing Grace''. The suggestive "(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel" became a number-one R&B smash and reached #28 on the Pop side. However, it was Aretha's ''only'' Pop Top 40 appearance during the second half of the 1970s. Her later period Atlantic albums including ''Sweet Passion'', ''Almighty Fire'' and ''La Diva'' were critical as well as sales failures and to top it off Franklin owed major debts to the
IRS for failure to pay back taxes. Her recording contract with Atlantic ran out at the end of 1979 and neither Aretha or the company had any desire to renew it. On June 10, 1979, Franklin's minister father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, was seriously wounded during what was said to be an attempted robbery at his Linwood Avenue home in Detroit, leaving him in a comatose state in which he remained until his death in the summer of 1984.
Return to prominence
In 1980, Franklin's career was given a much-needed boost thanks to a cameo appearance on ''
The Blues Brothers'', singing ''
Think'' as Mrs. Matt Murphy. That same year,
Clive Davis signed Aretha to his
Arista Records. While songs like "United Together" and "Love All The Hurt Away" - a duet with
George Benson - returned her to the Top 10 on the Billboard R&B charts, it wouldn't be until her
1982 single, "Jump To It", produced by longtime admirer
Luther Vandross, that gave the singer her first R&B chart-topper and pop success since "(Giving Him) Something He Can Feel". The ''Jump To It'' album enjoyed a long run at #1 on Billboard's R&B Albums chart (even the ''Zoomin' album only reached #3). It won an American Music Award, was nominated for a Grammy and was certified Gold in early 1983 - Aretha's first Gold disc since the 1976 ''Sparkle'' album. The following year Franklin and Vandross collaborated again on the disappointing ''Get It Right''. But in 1985, Franklin's sound was commercialized into a glossy pop sound as she experienced her first-ever ''Platinum-certified'' album, ''
Who's Zoomin' Who?''. Yielding smash hits like the
Motown-influenced "
Freeway of Love", the title track and her duet with rock duo
The Eurythmics, "
Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves", the album became the first
Platinum certification of Aretha's entire career, reintroducing her sound to a younger generation of fans. In 1986, Franklin did nearly as well with an album simply titled ''
Aretha'' which yielded her first number-one pop single in two decades with the
George Michael duet, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)". The album is noteworthy for the striking cover which was Andy Warhol's last work before his death. Other hits included her cover of
The Rolling Stones' "
Jumpin' Jack Flash" and the
girl group-inspired "
Jimmy Lee". When ''
Aretha'' was taken out of print, it had sold over 900,000 copies. Aretha returned to the Gospel world in 1987 with her album ''
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism'' which was recorded live at her New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. However, the disc was a far cry from her 1972 Gospel effort and had middling sales. Subsequent follow-ups such as 1989's ''Through The Storm'' and 1991's ''What You See Is What You Sweat'' sold poorly and failed to produce any major mainstream hits - other than the former's title track Elton John duet - but her career got a slight boost in 1993 when she scored a dance-club hit with "
A Deeper Love" off the '' soundtrack. In 1994, she scored another R&B and Pop hit with the
Babyface-produced ballad, "Willing To Forgive". However, Franklin truly returned to prominence with the release of her 1998 album, ''
A Rose Is Still A Rose''. The album's mixture of
Urban Contemporary,
Hip-Hop and
Classic Soul was a departure from Franklin's previous material. The title track, produced by
Lauryn Hill, gave her a smash hit on the R&B and Pop charts and earned a
Gold single while also returning Aretha to
Gold album status for the first time since the 1986 ''
Aretha'' release. That same year, she pulled out one of the greatest musical performances ever televised when she subbed for
Luciano Pavarotti to sing "
Nessun Dorma". Pavarotti, who was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award that night was too sick to attend. She gave a soulful and highly improvised performance, while firmly stamping out the year with a captivating performance during
VH-1's "Divas Live" telecast.
Recent years
Following the success of ''A Rose Is Still A Rose'', Franklin has continued recording if only sporadically. Her most recent release was 2003's ''So Damn Happy'', which included the
Grammy-winning track "Wonderful". Shortly after its release, Franklin left Arista Records after twenty-three years with the company. She has since started her own label, ''Aretha Records'', and plans to issue her long-promised new album, ''A Woman Falling Out Of Love'' later this year (2007). The album has a track featuring Fantasia, and other well known artists. She is also coaching young actors during audition cast-ins for a musical based on her autobiography, ''From These Roots''.''
In 1998, Franklin also took again her role of Mrs. Murphy in ''
Blues Brothers 2000'', this time singing her old hit "
Respect". Like in the 1980 movie, she plays the possessive wife of the lead guitarist of the Blues Brothers Band, singing the song during a row with her husband about his joining his former band.
Personal life
Twice divorced, Franklin is the mother of four grown sons. Two of her sons, Kecalf and Teddy, are active in the music business. Teddy is the musical director and guitarist of Franklin's touring band. From 1961 to 1969, Aretha was married to her manager and co-writer Ted White during a tumultuous time in Franklin's career. The violent marriage was troubled from the start. Shortly after an embarrassing public scandal, Franklin and White quietly divorced. Franklin didn't marry again until 1978 when she married ''Cooley High'' actor
Glynn Turman. Interestingly, White had been a decade older than Aretha while Turman was four years younger. The marriage lasted until late 1982 when Franklin and her family returned permanently to Detroit. She and Turman officially divorced in early 1984. At the age of 65, Aretha is said to be planning to marry her third husband, Willie Wilkerson Jr. (whom she first met upon her return to the Motor City in the early 1980s), sometime in 2007.
Awards and achievements
★ On
January 3 1987, she became the first woman to be inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
★ In May 1987, she was awarded an honorary 'Doctor of Musicology' degree from the University of Detroit.
★ In September, 1999, she was awarded The
National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.
★ In 2004,
Rolling Stone Magazine ranked her #9 on their list of the
100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
[2]. To give perspective to this honor, only
the Beatles,
Bob Dylan,
Elvis Presley,
the Rolling Stones,
Chuck Berry,
Jimi Hendrix,
James Brown, and
Little Richard finished ahead of her on this list.
Ray Charles finished at number ten, right behind Franklin.
★ In 2005, she was awarded The
Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.
★ In 2005, she became the second woman to be inducted into the
UK Music Hall of Fame.
★ On
May 13 2006, she was presented with an
honorary Doctor of Music degree by the
Berklee College of Music.
★ On May 14, 2007, she was presented with an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Grammy Awards
Franklin has won nineteen Grammy Awards in total during her nearly half-century long career (she first charted in 1961), and currently holds the record for most Best Female R&B Vocal Performance wins with eleven to her name (including eight consecutive awards from 1968 to 1975 - the first eight ''ever'' awarded in that category).
| Aretha Franklin's Grammy Award Wins |
|---|
| Year | Category | Genre | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Best Rhythm And Blues Recording | R&B | Respect |
| 1968 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Respect |
| 1969 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Chain Of Fools |
| 1970 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Share Your Love With Me |
| 1971 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Don't Play That Song For Me |
| 1971 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Bridge Over Troubled Water |
| 1973 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Young, Gifted and Black (album) |
| 1973 | Best Soul Gospel Performance | Gospel | Amazing Grace (album) |
| 1974 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Master Of Eyes |
| 1975 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing |
| 1982 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Hold On...I'm Comin' (album track) |
| 1986 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Freeway Of Love |
| 1988 | Best Female R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Aretha (album) |
| 1988 | Best R&B Performance - Duo Or Group with Vocal | R&B | I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)
With George Michael |
| 1989 | Best Soul Gospel Performance - Female | Gospel | One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism (album) |
| 1991 | Living Legend Award | Special | -- |
| 1994 | Lifetime Achievement Award | Special | -- |
| 2004 | Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | Wonderful |
| 2006 | Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance | R&B | A House Is Not A Home |
Discography
''For a detailed account of Aretha Franklin releases, see the
Aretha Franklin discography.''
'Notable albums:'
'Top 10 US
Hot 100 singles:'
Filmography
★ ''
The Blues Brothers'' (1980)
★ ''
Blues Brothers 2000'' (1998)
★ ''
DIVAS LIVE'' (1998)
★ ''
Immaculate Funk'' (2000) (documentary)
★ ''
Rhythm, Love and Soul'' (2002)
★ ''
Tom Dowd & the Language of Music'' (2003) (documentary)
★ '' (2003) (documentary)
★ ''
From The Heart / The Four Tops 50th Anniversary and Celebration'' (2004)
★ '' (2007) (documentary)
See also
★
List of best-selling music artists
★
List of number-one hits (United States)
★
List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
★
List of number-one dance hits (United States)
★
List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
References
1. I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You: Aretha Franklin, Respect, and the Making of a Soul Music Masterpiece, , Matt, Dobkin, St. Martin's Press, 2004, ISBN 0-312-31828-6
2. The Immortals: The First Fifty
External links
★
Official site
★
★
★
Aretha Franklin at the
Memorable Music Hall of Fame at
Memorable TV
★
Aretha Franklin at
Soulmusic.com
★
''Soul Covers'' by Michael Awkward featuring research and analysis on Aretha Franklin
★
Aretha Franklin at
Swingin' Chicks of the '60s
★
Aretha Franklin at
BBC News
★
Aretha Franklin at
RollingStone.com/artists/
★
Franklin, Aretha at
WorldCat Identities
★ Details about PBS' 1988 'American Masters' television special about Aretha Franklin at http://www.thirteen.org/pressroom/release.php?get=1938 (show is available on DVD through http://vpt.org/tvscheds/pbsvids.html)
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