Aretha Franklin was a famous American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights, activist. She started her singing career when she was just a kid. She sang gospel music at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was pastor of the church.
I was just a teenager myself when I became attracted to her church music. Since I was a Baptist church musician. I sang and played piano, but nowhere like this great lady. She regretfully later made an announcement that she was changing her career path over to “Soul” music. She was even more devastating as a singer and entertainer.
Many people all over the world knew Aretha Franklin as a musical and cultural icon from the 20th and 21st centuries. She created an enormous legacy that has lasted 6o years. This started with her first recording as a teenage gospel star singing Amazing Grace.
Aretha Franklin – The Gospel Singer
Aretha started singing in church as a gospel singer. She was the daughter of a very famous Gospel Minister, C. L. Franklin who was also a superb singer and minister.
Aretha was born in Memphis and grew up in Detroit. Her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin, was the pastor at New Bethel Baptist Church. His church services were so inspirational. I loved to hear him speak. 60 of his sermons (including the well known “The Eagle Stirreth Her Nest”) is legendary. He was one of the best-known religious stars of the day.
He was friends with some of the greatest vocalists of the gospel age. They were guests in the Franklin household often. Aretha and her sisters Erma and Carolyn and brothers Cecil and Vaughn grew up hearing people like Clara Ward (her greatest influence), Mahalia Jackson and James Cleveland both in their father’s church and the family’s living room.
A video of Aretha’s early days of singing in church is below.
Aretha Franklin – The Queen of Soul
Aretha Franklin was chosen as The Queen Of Soul in 1968. She was the first woman in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
She was a singer who sang from her heart with feeling. Her best recordings gave a brand new meaning to the term soul music. Her background started with gospel music. Then, there were the blues. and the music from the culture of the black people.
Her Greatest Hits
Aretha Franklin’s best musical hit was “Respect”. Her first album for Atlantic Records was “I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You” (1967). She also recorded other records that were great hits, such as…”Do Right Woman, Do Right Man”, “Dr. Feel Good”, and “A Change Is Gonna Come”. Also Sam Cook’s civil rights-era anthem. The album of “I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You” could be the greatest soul album of all time. These songs made her what she was… the Queen of Soul.
Her next three albums—Aretha Arrives (1967), Lady Soul (1968) and Aretha Now (1968)—includes “Chain of Fools,” “Think,” “Baby, I Love You,” “Since You’ve Been Gone (Sweet Sweet Baby)” and a soulful rendering of Carole King’s “A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like).” Her fifth Atlantic album, Aretha in Paris (1968), was sung live before a European audience.
Aretha recorded the second number one pop hit of her career in 1987. It was “I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)”. This was a duet with George Michael. This happened 20 years after she recorded her top hit of “Respect”. She did join up with Keith Richard in 1986, where she did a version of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. That was in Whoopi Goldberg’s movie the name was Jumpin’ Jack Flash.
The End of An Artist Era
She gave Essence Magazine an interview in 1973 and told them the basis of her success and that soul music was the essence that gave her the ability to communicate. “Music is my way of communicating that part of me I can get out front and share,” “It’s what I have to give; my way of saying, “Let’s find one another.”
Aretha Franklin was a fabulous American songwriter, vocalist, pianist, and Civil Rights Activist who died on August 16, 2018.
Latest News
Aretha Franklin Is The First Woman To Receive A Pulitzer Prize Special Citation
Aretha Franklin won a Pulitzer Prize (Special Citation). It was presented on April 15, 2019. Other recipients of the Special Citation include Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, John Coltrane, Ray Bradbury, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, William Schuman, Milton Babbitt, Scott Joplin, Roger Sessions, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein II. She was an incredible pop music star of her time.
“Amazing Grace” Expands Across 15 Major Cities in America
Read more at USA Today.
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