and musician. Franklin began her career singing gospel at her father, minister C. L. Franklin's

church as a child. In 1960, at age 18, Franklin embarked on a secular career, recording for

Columbia Records only achieving modest success. Following her signing to Atlantic Records

in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as "Respect",

" A Natural Woman" and "Think". These hits and more helped her to gain the title The

Queen of Soul by the end of the 1960s decade. Franklin eventually recorded a total of 88

charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries and twenty number-one R&B

singles, becoming the most charted female artist in the chart's history. Franklin also

recorded acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul,

Young, Gifted & Black and Amazing Grace before experiencing problems with her record company

by the mid-1970s. After her father was shot in 1979, Franklin left Atlantic and signed

with Arista Records, finding success with a cameo appearance in the film, The Blues

Brothers and with the albums, Jump to It and Who's Zoomin' Who?. In 1998, Franklin won

international acclaim for singing the opera aria, "Nessun Dorma", at the Grammys of that

year replacing Luciano Pavarotti. Later that same year, she scored her final Top 40 recording

with "A Rose Is Still a Rose". Franklin has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards

and is one of the best-selling female artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records

worldwide. Franklin has been honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in which she became the first female performer 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, in which she

placed number 9, and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time in which she placed number 1.

Early life Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis,

Tennessee, the daughter of Barbara (née) Siggers and Clarence LaVaughn Franklin. Her

father, who went by the nickname, "C. L.", was an itinerant preacher originally from

Shelby, Mississippi, while her mother was an accomplished piano player and vocalist.

Alongside Aretha, her parents had three other children while both C. L. and Barbara had

children from outside their marriage. The family relocated to Buffalo, New York when

Aretha was two. Prior to her fifth birthday, C. L. Franklin permanently relocated the family

to Detroit, Michigan where he founded the Baptist church, New Bethel. Franklin's parents

had a troubled marriage due to stories of C. L. Franklin's philandering and in 1948,

they separated, with Barbara relocating back to Buffalo with her son, Vaughn, from a previous

affair. Contrary to popular notion, Franklin's mother

did not abandon her children and Aretha would recall seeing her mother in Buffalo during

summertime while Barbara also frequently visited her children in Detroit. Franklin's mother

died on March 7, 1952, prior to Franklin's tenth birthday. Several women, including Franklin's

grandmother Rachel, and Mahalia Jackson took turns helping with the children at the Franklin

home. During this time, Franklin learned how to play piano by ear. Franklin's father's

emotionally-driven sermons resulted in him being known as the man with the "million-dollar

voice" and earning over thousands of dollars for sermons in various churches across the

country. Franklin's celebrity led to his home being visited by various celebrities including

gospel musicians Clara Ward, James Cleveland and early Caravans members Albertina Walker

and Inez Andrews as well as Martin Luther King, Jr., Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke.

Music career Beginnings

Just after her mother's death, Aretha began singing solos at New Bethel, debuting with

the hymn, "Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me". Four years later, when Aretha was 14, her father

began managing her, bringing her on the road with him during his so-called "gospel caravan"

tours for her to perform in various churches. He helped his daughter get signed to her first

recording deal with J.V.B. Records, where her first album, Songs of Faith, was issued

in 1956. Two singles were released to gospel radio stations including "Never Grow Old"

and "Precious Lord, Take My Hand". Franklin sometimes traveled with the Caravans and The

Soul Stirrers during this time and developed a crush on Sam Cooke, who was then singing

with the Soul Stirrers prior to his secular career.

After turning 18, Aretha confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke to record

pop music. Serving as her manager, C. L. agreed to the move and helped to produce a two-song

demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, who agreed to sign her

in 1960. Franklin was signed as a "five-percent artist". During this period, Franklin would

be coached by choreographer Cholly Atkins to prepare for her pop performances. Before

signing with Columbia, Sam Cooke tried to persuade Aretha's father to have his label,

RCA sign Aretha. He had also been persuaded by local record label owner Berry Gordy to

sign Aretha and her elder sister Erma to his Tamla label. Aretha's father felt the label

was not established enough yet. Aretha's first Columbia single, "Today I Sing the Blues",

was issued in September 1960 and later reached the top ten of the Hot Rhythm & Blues Sellers

chart. Initial success

In January 1961, Columbia issued Aretha's debut album, Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo.

The album featured her first single to chart the Billboard Hot 100, "Won't Be Long", which

also peaked at number 7 on the R&B chart. Mostly produced by Clyde Otis, Franklin's

Columbia recordings saw her recording in diverse genres such as standards, vocal jazz, blues,

doo-wop and rhythm and blues. Before the year was out, Franklin scored her first top 40

single with her rendition of the standard, "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody",

which also included the R&B hit, "Operation Heartbreak", on its b-side. "Rock-a-Bye" became

her first international hit, reaching the top 40 in Australia and Canada. By the end

of 1961, Franklin was named as a "new-star female vocalist" in Down Beat magazine. In

1962, Columbia issued two more albums, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin and The Tender,

the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin, the latter of which charted number 69 on the

Billboard Pop LPs chart. By 1964, Franklin began recording more pop

music, reaching the top ten on the R&B chart with the ballad, "Runnin' Out of Fools" in

early 1965. She had two R&B charted singles in 1965 and 1966 with the songs "One Step

Ahead" and "Cry Like a Baby" while also reaching the Easy Listening charts with the ballads

"You Made Me Love You" and "(No, No) I'm Losing You". By the mid-1960s, Aretha was netting

$100,000 from countless performances in nightclubs and theaters. Also during that period, Franklin

appeared on rock and roll shows such as Hollywood A Go-Go and Shindig!. However, it was argued

that Franklin's potential was neglected at the label. Columbia executive John H. Hammond

later said he felt Columbia did not understand Aretha's early gospel background and failed

to bring that aspect out further during her Columbia period.

Commercial success In January 1967, choosing not to renew her

Columbia contract after six years with the company, Franklin signed to Atlantic Records.

That month, she traveled to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record at FAME Studios to record

the song, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" in front of the musicians of the

famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. The song was later issued that February and shot up

to number-one on the R&B chart, while also peaking at number nine on the Billboard Hot

100, giving Aretha her first top ten pop single. The song's b-side, "Do Right Woman, Do Right

Man", reached the R&B top 40, peaking at number 37. In April, Atlantic issued her frenetic

version of Otis Redding's "Respect", which shot to number-one on both the R&B and pop

charts and later became her signature song and was later hailed as a civil rights and

feminist anthem. Aretha's debut Atlantic album, I Never Loved

a Man the Way I Love You, also became commercially successful, later going gold. Aretha scored

two more top ten singles in 1967 including "Baby I Love You" and "(You Make Me Feel Like

A) Natural Woman". Franklin's rapport with producer Jerry Wexler helped in the creation

of the majority of Aretha's peak recordings with Atlantic. In 1968, she issued the top-selling

albums, Lady Soul and Aretha Now, which included some of Franklin's most popular hit singles

including "Chain of Fools", "Ain't No Way", "Think" and "I Say a Little Prayer". In February

1968, Franklin earned the first two of her Grammys including the debut category for Best

Female R&B Vocal Performance. On February 16, 1968, Aretha was honored with a day in

her honor and was greeted by longtime friend Martin Luther King, Jr. who gave her the SCLC

Drum Beat Award for Musicians just two months prior to his death. In June 1968, she appeared

on the cover of Time magazine. Franklin's success expanded during the early

1970s in which she recorded top ten singles such as "Spanish Harlem", "Rock Steady" and

"Day Dreaming" as well as the acclaimed albums, Spirit in the Dark, Young, Gifted & Black

and her gospel album, Amazing Grace, which sold over two million copies. In 1971, Franklin

became the first R&B performer to headline Fillmore West, later recording the live album,

Aretha Live at Fillmore West. Franklin's career began experiencing issues while recording

the album, Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky), which featured production from Quincy

Jones. Despite the success of the single, "Angel", the album bombed upon its release

in 1973. Franklin continued having R&B success with songs such as "Until You Come Back to

Me" and "I'm in Love" but by 1975, her albums and songs were failing to become a success.

After Jerry Wexler left Atlantic for Warner Bros. Records in 1976, Franklin worked on

the soundtrack to the film, "Sparkle", with Curtis Mayfield. The album yielded Aretha's

final top 40 hit of the decade, "Something He Can Feel", which also peaked at number-one

on the R&B chart. Franklin's follow-up albums for Atlantic including Sweet Passion, Almighty

Fire and La Diva bombed on the charts and in 1979, Franklin opted to leave the company.

Later years In 1980, Franklin signed with Clive Davis'

Arista Records and that same year, gave a command performance at the Royal Albert Hall

in front of Queen Elizabeth. Aretha also made an acclaimed guest role as a waitress in the

comedy musical, The Blues Brothers. Franklin's first Arista album, Aretha, featured the #3

R&B hit, "United Together" and her Grammy-nominated cover of Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You

Loose". The follow-up, 1981's Love All the Hurt Away, included her famed duet of the

title track with George Benson while the album also included her Grammy-winning cover of

Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'". Franklin returned to the Gold standard - for the first

time in seven years - with the album, Jump to It. Its title track was her first top 40

single on the pop charts in six years. In 1985, inspired by her desire to have a

"younger sound" in her music, her fourth Arista album, Who's Zoomin' Who, became her first

album to be certified platinum, after selling well over a million copies, thanks to the

hits, "Freeway of Love", the title track and "Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves". The

following year's Aretha album nearly matched this success with the hit singles "Jumpin'

Jack Flash", "Jimmy Lee" and "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me", her international number-one

duet with George Michael. During that period, Aretha provided vocals to the theme songs

of the shows, A Different World and Together. In 1987, she issued her third gospel album,

One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, which was recorded at her late father's New Bethel church,

followed by Through the Storm in 1989. Franklin's 1991 album, What You See is What You Sweat

flopped on the charts. Franklin returned to the charts in 1993 with the dance song, "A

Deeper Love" and returned to the top 40 with the song, "Willing to Forgive" in 1994.

In 1998, Franklin returned to the top 40 with the Lauryn Hill-produced song, "A Rose Is

Still a Rose", later issuing the album of the same name, which went gold. That same

year, Franklin earned international acclaim for her performance of "Nessun Dorma" at the

Grammy Awards. Her final Arista album, So Damn Happy, was released in 2003 and featured

the Grammy-winning song, "Wonderful". In 2004, Franklin announced that she was leaving Arista

after over 20 years with the label. To complete her Arista obligations, Aretha issued the

duets compilation album, Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets with the Queen, in 2007. The

following year, she issued the holiday album, This Christmas, Aretha, on DMI Records. In

January 2009, Franklin again made international headlines for performing "My Country 'Tis

of Thee" at President Barack Obama's inaugural ceremony with her church hat becoming a popular

topic online. In 2010, Franklin accepted an honorary degree from Yale University. In 2011,

under her own label, Aretha's Records, she issued the album, Aretha: A Woman Falling

Out Of Love. As of 2013, Franklin is now signed under RCA Records and is currently working

again with Clive Davis. A new album is in the works with producers Babyface and Danger

Mouse planning to work with Franklin. Music style and image

Franklin has often been described as a great singer and musician due to "vocal flexibility,

interpretive intelligence, skillful piano-playing, her ear, her experience." Franklin's voice

has been described as being a "powerful mezzo-soprano voice" and has been praised for her arrangements

and interpretations of other artists' hit songs. Of describing Franklin's voice as a

youngster on her first album, Songs of Faith, released when she was just fourteen, Jerry

Wexler explained that Franklin's voice "was not that of a child but rather of an ecstatic

hierophant." Franklin's image went through rapid changes throughout her career. During

the 1960s, Franklin was known for wearing bouffant hairdos and extravagant dresses that

were sometimes surrounded enveloped in either mink fur or feathers. In the 1970s, embracing

her roots, Franklin briefly wore the Afro hairdo and wore Afrocentric styled clothing

admired by her peers. In the mid-1970s, after dropping weight, Franklin began wearing slinkier

attire. By the 1980s, she had settled on wearing nightgowns and extravagant dresses.

Personal life Aretha is the mother of four sons. Her first

two children, Clarence (born January 28, 1955), and Edward (born January 22, 1957), were born

before her 13th and 15th birthdays. She has never identified the father of either child.

During that period, Aretha's grandmother, Rachel, and sister, Erma, raised Aretha's

boys while she pursued her musical career and other options including "hanging out with

my friends." Rachel lived in a guest house behind her son C. L. Franklin's LaSalle Street

home, with the Franklins having moved there from their Boston Street residence during

the late 1950s. Aretha's third child, Ted White, Jr., was born in 1964. Today he is