Aretha Franklin was born March 25, 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee. In her life, she held the title as the Queen of Soul, but in reality, she reigned over all of music.
Numbers demonstrate her domination of the pop and rhythm and blues charts in both the 1960s and ‘70s. She had 112 charted singles, 77 in the top 100 R&Bs…She had 17 top tens on the pop charts…20 number one R&B singles. She was nominated for 44 Grammys and won 18. She has sold 75 million records worldwide.
Franklin’s dad was a nationally known minister at a Detroit church where a young Aretha sang gospel music and played the piano. She turned to secular music when she was 18. Her success wasn’t immediate, but by 1967 everything she sang went to gold.
She had a knack for taking other artist’s songs and making them her own. Song of the Day “Respect” was her biggest. Originally written by Otis Redding, Frankin’s version reached number one on the Billboard Top 100 and R&B charts in July 1967.
The song grew to become an anthem for the women’s rights and civil rights movement.
Aretha Franklin died of pancreatic cancer in August 2018. The queen of the music world was 76.
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