The Life of Queen of Soul Music: Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin who is regarded as the queen of soul music was born on 25th of March 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee (Wikipedia, 2021). She was the daughter of the preacher and civil rights activist Clarence L. Franklin who organized the 1963 Detroit Walk to Freedom and gospel singer Barbara Siggers Franklin (Lang, 2018). Aretha Franklin grew up singing gospel music in the church (Wikipedia, 2021). Franklin’s musical innate talents were scouted at early ages thanks to her parents that brought her up with the music (Biography, 2014). She learned to play many musical instruments by herself and this made people regard her as a child prodigy (Biography, 2014). Franklin got herself to sing in front of her father’s congregation (Biography, 2014). At early ages of her youth, she was considered as a gifted pianist with having powerful voice and got attention from others (Biography, 2014). However, the most outstanding part of her musical career was the time when she introduced her music to audience and started to make music as a profession. In this article, it will be explained how dear Mrs.Franklin started her professional career and zoomed in on her salient albums.

Firstly, by the age of 14, her father managed her career and made her sign up with the record label J.V.B., and they recorded her first album (Wikipedia, 2021). Besides that, she also traveled with her dad as he used to go on tour where she met with gospel legends Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke, and Clara Ward (Biography, 2014). In her career, one of the turning points was to sign up with Columbia Records by which her self-titled album “Aretha” was released in 1961 (Biography, 2014). Through this album, Aretha made her first music appear on the R&B Top 10 list (Biography, 2014). In addition to this achievement, a bigger success came in the same year with the single “Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody,” which crossed over to No. 37 on the pop charts (Biography, 2014).

Later on, she signed up with Atlantic Records and by this way, she continued to flourish. In her new brand label, she recorded the single “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” (Biography, 2014). Her single became a big hit (Biography, 2014). To name her next album in 1967 and to be the first song in the album, “Respect” reached No. 1 on both R&B and pop charts (Biography, 2014). This song also made Franklin win her first two Grammy Awards (Biography, 2014). She was also on Top 10 hits with the songs “Baby I Love You”, “Think”, “Chain of Fools”, “I Say a Little Prayer”, “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”(Biography, 2014). As she started to dominate charts, she got the title of The Queen of Soul (Biography, 2014). Additionally, she became a symbol of Black Empowerment during the civil rights movement. In 1968, Franklin performed at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., that was her father’s friend. Later that year, she was selected to sing the national anthem at the beginning of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago (Biography, 2014).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtBbyglq37E

In 1969, Franklin’s steady rise continued as she made more hit singles including “Don’t Play That Song”, and  “Spanish Harlem” (Biography, 2014). In addition to these, her new album “Amazing Grace” was released in 1972 and it was sold more than 2 million and went on to become the best-selling gospel album at the time (Biography, 2014). Franklin’s success carried on throughout the 1970s when she won eight Grammy Awards. One of them was in the Best R&B Female Vocal Performance category with the single “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” (Biography, 2014). However, by 1975, as disco music started to get more popular and the emergence of new singers such as Chaka Khan and Donna Summer, this made her struggle for her career (Biography, 2014). In 1980, she found a way to revive her career thanks to “The Blues Brother” film in which her singing performance introduced her to the new generation of R&B lovers (Biography, 2014). After that, she signed up with Arista Records. In 1982, her new label released the next album called Jump To It and it achieved a success on the R&B charts. Furthermore, she was nominated for Grammy (Biography, 2014).

In 1985, Franklin released a new album “Who’s Zooming Who?” and she attracted huge attention (Biography, 2014). In this album, “Freeway of Love,” and featuring single “Sisters are Doin’ it for themselves” with the popular rock band The Eurythmics made her shine again (Biography, 2014). In 1986, her following album “Aretha” was launched to the market with a duet with British singer George Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” and she got huge success and hit No. 1 on the pop charts (Biography, 2014). In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In the same year, she released her new album “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism” which brought her Grammy for the best Soul Gospel Performance (Biography, 2014). By 1993, Franklin had a quiet period in her career until she was invited to sing at the ceremony for Bill Clinton. In 1994, she was given both Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Kennedy Center Honors (Biography, 2014). In 2005, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and became the second woman to be a part of the UK Music Hall of Fame. Three years later, she won her 18th Grammy Award for the single called “Never Gonna Break My Faith” in which she collaborated with Mary J. Blige (Biography, 2014). Her last studio album “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics” was released by RCA Records in 2014 (Wikipedia, 2021).

To put it in a nutshell, with 18 Grammys she had, Franklin was one of the most honored and appreciated artists in the music industry. Moreover, she was one of the most dedicated artists and she made 38 studio albums and 131 singles (Wikipedia, 2021). Unfortunately, she died in 2018 but her beloved soul will live forever with her music.

WORK CITED

Biography.com Editors (2014).” Aretha Franklin Biography “.  A&E Television Networks. Available at  https://www.biography.com/musician/aretha-franklin

Lang, C. (2018). “Aretha Franklin Wasn’t Just a Music Legend. She Also Raised Her Voice for Civil Rights “. Time. Avaliable at https://time.com/5369587/aretha-franklin-civil-rights/

Wikipedia Editors (2021). “Aretha Franklin “. Wikipedia. Available at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aretha_Franklin

Wikipedia Editors (2021). “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics “. Wikipedia. Available at http://Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics