Aretha Franklin

Soul Singer

Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States on March 25th, 1942 and is the Soul Singer. At the age of 76, Aretha Franklin biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, songs, movies, and networth are available.

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Other Names / Nick Names
Aretha Louise Franklin, The Queen of Soul
Date of Birth
March 25, 1942
Nationality
United States
Place of Birth
Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Death Date
Aug 16, 2018 (age 76)
Zodiac Sign
Aries
Networth
$60 Million
Profession
Pianist, Singer, Songwriter
Social Media
Aretha Franklin Height, Weight, Eye Color and Hair Color

At 76 years old, Aretha Franklin has this physical status:

Height
165cm
Weight
79kg
Hair Color
Black
Eye Color
Dark Brown
Build
Large
Measurements
Not Available
Aretha Franklin Religion, Education, and Hobbies
Religion
Christianity
Hobbies
Not Available
Education
Northern High School
Aretha Franklin Spouse(s), Children, Affair, Parents, and Family
Spouse(s)
Ted White ​ ​(m. 1961; div. 1969)​, Glynn Turman ​ ​(m. 1978; div. 1984)​
Children
4
Dating / Affair
Donald Burke, Edward Jordan, Doc Powell, Ted White (1961-1969), Ken Cunningham (1968-1971), Eumir Deodato (1973), Glynn Turman (1977-1984), Willie Wilkerson (1984-2012)
Parents
Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, Barbara Siggers Franklin
Siblings
Erma Franklin (Older Sister) (Singer) (Died from throat cancer in 2002), Carolyn Franklin (Younger Sister) (Singer and Songwriter) (Died in 1988 from breast cancer), Cecil Franklin (Older Brother) (Died from lung cancer in 1989)
Other Family
Willie Walker (Paternal Grandfather), Rachel Walker (née Pittman) (Paternal Grandmother), Samuel Siggers (Maternal Grandfather), Clara Bell Lowe (Maternal Grandmother), Vaughn Franklin (Older Step-Brother) (Died in 2002), Carol Ellan Kelley (née Jennings) (Step-Sister)
Aretha Franklin Life

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942–August 16, 2018), an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist.

Franklin began her ministry as a youth singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was minister.

She began a secular musical career with Columbia Records at the age of 18.

Although Franklin's career did not develop right away, she achieved acclaim and commercial success after signing with Atlantic Records in 1966.

"Respect," "Chain of Fools," "Think," "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman")," "I Never Loved a Man" ("The Way I Love You")," and "I Say a Little Prayer" propelled her beyond her musical peers.

Aretha Franklin had become known as "The Queen of Soul" by the 1960s by the time. Franklin continued to record hit songs including I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967), Lady Soul (1968), The Oldest Daughter (1972), and Sparkle (1976), before having issues with her record company.

Early life

Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, to Barbara (née Siggers) and Clarence LaVaughn "C. L. Franklin). She was born at her family's house in Memphis, Tennessee, located at 406 Lucy Avenue. Her father, a Baptist minister and circuit preacher from Shelby, Mississippi, was born in Shelby, Mississippi, and her mother, a pianist and singer, was an excellent pianist and vocalist. In comparison to the four children they had together, both Mr. and Mrs. Franklin had children from prior relationships. When Aretha was two, the family moved to Buffalo, New York. C. L. Franklin, who had permanently relocated the family to Detroit, where he took over the pastorship of New Bethel Baptist Church.

Mr. Franklin's infidelities caused their marriage to be tense, and they separated in 1948. Barbara Franklin and her half-brother, Vaughn, returned to Buffalo at this time. Aretha recalled visiting her mother in Buffalo during the summer, and Barbara Franklin visited her children in Detroit often. Aretha's mother died of a heart attack on March 7, 1952, just before Aretha's 10th birthday. Several women, including Aretha Jackson, and Mahalia Jackson, took turns with the children at the Franklin home. Aretha learned how to play piano by ear during this period. She continued attending public school in Detroit during her freshman year at Northern High School but fell out during her sophomore year.

Aretha's father's emotionally driven sermons resulted in him being regarded as the man with the "million-dollar voice." Thousands of dollars were earned in various churches around the country. Because of his celebrity, various celebrities visited his house. Clara Ward, James Cleveland, and early Caravans members Albertina Walker and Inez Andrews were among the visitors. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Wilson, and Sam Cooke all became C.L. Franklin's friends. Ward was romantically linked with Aretha's father from 1949 to Ward's death in 1973, but Aretha "preferred to treat them strictly as friends." Ward also served as a role model to the teenage Aretha.

Personal life

Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, where she lived in New York City in the 1960s before relocating to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. She later moved to Encino, California, where she lived until 1982. She then returned to Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, to be close to her elderly father and siblings. Franklin lived there until her death. Following an incident in 1984, she cited a fear of flying that barred her from going overseas; after that, she only worked in North America.

Franklin was the mother of four sons. Clarence, her mother's first child, was born at the age of 12 and gave birth to her first child, who was named Clarence after her father's on January 28, 1955. Franklin said in one of her handwritten wills that was discovered in 2019, Edward Jordan was the father. Franklin's second child was fathered by Jordan, named Edward Derone Franklin after his father's death on August 31, 1957. Franklin did not want to worry about her early pregnancy with interviewers. Both children were given the names of their families. While Franklin was pursuing her singing career and "hanging out with [friends], her grandmother Rachel and sister Erma took turns raising her children. Franklin would go back to them often. Ted White Jr., her third child, was born to Franklin and her partner Theodore "Ted" White in February 1964 and is best described as Teddy Richards. At live concerts, he provided guitar support for his mother's band. Kecalf Cunningham, her youngest son, was born in April 1970 and is the niece of her road manager Ken Cunningham.

Franklin was married twice before being married. Ted White, her first husband, who died in 1961 at the age of 18. She had seen White for the first time at a party held at her house in 1954. Franklin divorced White in 1968 after a turbulent marriage was marred by domestic violence, and he divorced him in 1969. On April 11, 1978, she married actor Glynn Turman at her father's church. Franklin became Turman's stepmother by marrying Turman. Franklin and Turman divorced in 1982 after she returned to Michigan from California, but they divorced in 1984.

Erma and Carolyn, Franklin's sisters, were professional singers and spent years on Franklin's albums as background vocals. Following Franklin's separation from Ted White, Cecil White, her brother, became her boss and stayed on the position until he died of lung cancer on December 26, 1989. Carolyn died of breast cancer in April 1988, and her elder sister Erma died from throat cancer in September 2002. In late 2002, Franklin's half-brother Vaughn died. Carol Ellan Kelley (née Jennings; 1940–2019), C. L. Franklin's daughter, is the niece of C. L. Franklin's daughter, Mildred Jennings, a 12-year-old member of New Salem Baptist Church in Memphis, where C. L. Franklin was pastor.

Franklin was performing at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 10, 1979, when her father, C. L., was shot twice at point-blank range in his Detroit home. C. L. was moved to Henry Ford Hospital after six months in coma while still in a coma. Aretha retired to Detroit in late 1982 to help with her father's care, who died at the New Light Nursing Home in Detroit on July 27, 1984.

Franklin had a long friendship with Willie Wilkerson, a Vietnam War veteran and Detroit firefighter who also helped with her duties and cared for her when she was sick. In 2012, she announced plans to marry Wilkerson, but the proposal was soon cancelled.

Dionne Warwick, Mavis Staples, and Cissy Houston, all of Franklin's musical associates, were among the Sweet Inspirations' members. "Ain't No Way" is Franklin's hit in Houston. In the early 1970s, Franklin first met Whitney Houston, Cissy's teenage daughter. Whitney dubbed her "Auntie Ree" after she was made Whitney's honorary aunt (not a godmother, as has been occasionally reported) and she often referred to her as "Auntie Ree." Due to a leg spasm, Franklin was unable to attend Whitney Houston's memorial service on February 18, 2012.

Franklin, a christian Christian, and a registered Democrat.

Franklin suffered with weight issues for many years. She lost 40 pounds (18 kg) on a very low-calorie diet in 1974 and maintained her new weight until the end of the decade. She shed some weight in the early 1990s before gaining some back. She quit smoking in 1992, a former chain smoker who had trouble with alcoholism. In 1994, she confessed to being "messing with my voice," but she later said she was "ballooned" after quitting smoking, but she regained control after quitting smoking.

Franklin canceled a number of concerts in 2010 due to an undisclosed tumor. When talking about the surgery in 2011, she cited her doctor as saying that it would "add 15 to 20 years" to her life. As had been reported, she denied that the ailment had anything to do with pancreatic cancer. "I don't have to worry about my health with someone other than my doctors," Franklin said. The issue has been fixed." Franklin lost 85 pounds after the surgery. However, she denied that she had undergone weight loss surgery; however, she denied that she had undergone weight loss surgery. Franklin appeared at the Chicago Theatre on May 19, 2011.

Franklin cancelled two shows in May 2013 due to an undisclosed medical emergency. In the summer and fall, there have been further concert cancellations. Franklin said she had had a "miraculous" recovery from her undisclosed illness during a phone interview with the Associated Press in late August 2013, but she had to cancel shows and appearances before her health was 100% restored, according to a Associated Press interview, who estimated she was about "85% healed." Franklin later returned to live performing, including a 2013 Christmas concert at Detroit's MotorCity Casino Hotel. In mid-2014, she began a multi-city tour, beginning with a show at Radio City Music Hall in New York on June 14.

Franklin revealed in a local Detroit television anchor Evrod Cassimy that 2017 would be her last year touring in February 2017. On the other hand, she booked some 2018 concert dates before canceling them based on her doctor's instructions.

Franklin was found seriously ill at her home in Riverfront Towers, Detroit, on August 13, 2018. She was under hospice care and was surrounded by family and friends. Mette Wonder, Jesse Jackson, and her estranged husband Glynn Turman visited her on her deathbed. Franklin died at her home on August 16, 2018, aged 76. She was first thought to have died without a will. The cause of death was a malignant pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (pNET), which is distinct from the most common form of pancreatic cancer. Several celebrities in the entertainment industry and lawmakers paid tribute to Franklin, including former US President Barack Obama, who said she "helped frame the American experience." Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist and humanitarian icon, was described as a "civil rights and humanitarian icon."

On August 19, New Bethel Baptist Church held a memorial service. Thousands of people showed their gratitude during the public lying-in-repose at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Multiple tributes by celebrities, politicians, families, and family members were streamed by several news organizations, including Fox News, CNN, BET, and MSNBC, were included in the August 31 Homegoing Service held at Greater Grace Temple in Detroit, which was streamed by several news organizations, such as Fox News, CNN, BET, and MSNBC. Ariana Grande, Bill Clinton, Rev. b.a. At the funeral, the service was honored by many. Louis Farrakhan, Faith Hill, Fantasia, Ronald Isley, Angie Stone, Chaka Khan, Jennifer Holliday, Queen Latifah, Catherine Jenkins, Deborah Griffin, Trevor Carter, Juliette Wade, Matthew Griffin, Thomas Houston, Beth Lawrence, Esterma Blake, Sir Stephen Farrakhan, Steve Blake, Matthew Perry, Jerome Baker, Tyrell Bennett, Julius Caesar, Shanetta Robinson, Moses Adams, Resurrecta Adams, Jr. Dr. William Barber II. Rev. eulogized her at Franklin's request. Jasper Williams Jr. of Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta had eulogized her father as well as speaking at other family memorials. Williams' eulogy was chastised for being "a political statement that referred to children living in a household without a father as "abortion after birth," and that black lives do not matter until blacks stop killing each other." Vaughan, Franklin's nephew, screamed for Williams: "He spoke for 50 minutes, but at no time did he properly eulogize her." Franklin was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit following a telecast parade.

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Aretha Franklin Career

Musical career

Franklin performed solos at New Bethel, debuting with the song "Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me" right after her mother's death. Franklin was 12, her father began caring for her; he'd take her on the road with him on her "gospel caravan" tours for her to perform in various churches. He also aided her in signing her first recording contract with J.V.B. Records. Nine tracks were recorded inside New Bethel Baptist Church, and recording equipment was installed inside. Franklin performed on vocals and piano. J.V.B. died in 1956, J.V.B. "Never Grow Old" is Franklin's first single, backed by "You Grow Closer." "Precious Lord (Part One)" was backed by "Precious Lord (Part Two)" who appeared in 1959. These four songs, as well as "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood," were released on side one of the 1956 album, Spirituals. In 1962, Battle Records reissued this issue under the same name. Checker Records released Songs of Faith, a compilation of five songs from 1956's Spirituals, which also included four previously unreleased tracks. When Songs of Faith first appeared, Aretha was only 14 years old.

Franklin will occasionally fly with the Soul Stirrers during this period. Franklin spent summers on the gospel circuit in Chicago and remained with Mavis Staples' family. "Aretha was the 'next one,'" says music producer Quincy Jones, although Franklin was still young.

Franklin and her father travelled to California, where she met singer Sam Cooke. Franklin, who was 16 years old at the time, went on tour with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and she would perform at his funeral in 1968. Marvin Gaye (who was a boyfriend of her sister's sister), as well as Ray Charles and Sam Cooke, "two of Franklin's finest influences," he said. "Who helped to narrow her early career as a gospel singer" in James Cleveland; Cleveland had been recruited by her father as a pianist for the Southern California Community Choir.

Franklin confessed to her father that she aspired to be Sam Cooke in pop culture and moved to New York after turning 18. C. L. Franklin, her manager, consented to the change and appeared in a two-song demo that was soon released by Columbia Records, who promised to sign her as a "five-percent artist" after she was first identified as a "five-percent artist" shortly after she was revealed in 1960. Franklin will be coached by choreographer Cholly Atkins to prepare for her pop appearances during this time. Sam Cooke attempted to convince Franklin's father to sign his name, RCA, but her request was turned down because she had decided to go with Columbia. Berry Gordy, the owner of the Tamla brand, had also requested Franklin and her elder sister Erma to sign with his Tamla brand. However, C.L. is a registered person. Franklin believed that the mark was not yet established enough, so he turned Gordy down. "Today I Sing the Blues," Franklin's first Columbia single, "Today Sing the Blues," was released in September 1960 and has since debuted on the Hot Rhythm & Blues charts top ten.

Aretha: Aretha's First Album, Columbia's first album, was released in January 1961. With The Ray Bryant Combo. "Won't Be Long" was her debut on Billboard's Hot 100, and it also peaked at number 7 on the R&B chart. Clyde Otis, Franklin's Columbia recordings, featured her in a variety of genres, including standards, vocal jazz, blues, doo-wop, and blues. Franklin scored her first with her hit-single version of the popular "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby" with a Dixie Melody before the year came out. Franklin was dubbed a "new-star female vocalist" in DownBeat magazine by the end of 1961. Columbia released two more albums, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin and The Tender, the Moving, and Swinging Aretha Franklin, the latter of which reached number 69 on the Billboard chart in 1962.

During a Chicago appearance, WVON radio personality Pervis Spann announced that Franklin should be named "the Queen of Soul." Spann crowned a crown on her head. Franklin began recording more pop music in 1964, debuting with the ballad "Runnin' Out of Fools" in early 1965. She had two R&B charted singles in 1965 and 1966, with the song "One Step Ahead" and "Cry Like a Baby," as well as "You Made Me Love You" and "I'm Losing You." Franklin was making $100,000 a year from numerous appearances in nightclubs and theaters by the mid-1960s. She appeared on rock-and-roll shows, including Hollywood's Go-Go and Shindig! During Columbia, however, she had trouble with commercial success. Columbia executive John H. Hammond later said she did not know Franklin's early gospel roots and declined to bring the subject out further during her tenure at Columbia.

Franklin's Columbia recording deal came to an end in November 1966; at the time, she owe the company money because record sales had not met expectations.

Jerry Wexler, a producer, persuaded her to move to Atlantic Records. Wexler decided that he wanted to profit from her Gospel experience; his aim, in general, was to promote a "tenacious style of rhythm & blues" that has increasingly identified as soul. Aretha Franklin's career from 1967 to early 1972 would result in the creation of the majority of her top albums with Atlantic. The next seven years' accomplishments were less impressive. However, Rolling Stone said, "they weren't as bad as others expected, they weren't pro forma and never hit for new heights."

Franklin went to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to record the song "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Franklin spent just one day at FAME after an altercation broke out between her manager and husband Ted White, studio owner Rick Hall, and a horn player, and sessions were called off. The album was released the following month and debuted on the R&B chart, while the Billboard Hot 100 debuted at number nine, giving Franklin her first top-ten pop single. "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" the song's B-side debuted on R&B's top 40, peaking at number 37. "Respect" was Otis Redding's song, but Aretha reinterpreted it into a "very charged interlude with the emphatic spelling-out of the song's name. Her frenetic version was launched in April and ranked at number one on both the R&B and pop charts. "Respect" became her signature song and was later regarded as a civil rights and feminist anthem. Otis Redding praised her version as "that little girl did take my song away from me." I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Franklin's debut Atlantic album, went gold later this year. This recording, according to National Geographic, "will catapult Franklin to fame." Franklin released two additional top-ten hits in 1967, "Baby I Love You" and "You Make Me Feel Like" A Natural Woman.

Franklin became "the most popular singer in the country" by 1968 while on staff with Wexler and Atlantic. Franklin released Lady Soul and Aretha Now, one of her best-selling hit songs, including "Chain of Fools," "Ain't No Way," "Think," and "I Say a Little Prayer" on 1968. Franklin was voted first in two of her Grammy Awards in February, as well as the first category for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. On February 16, Franklin was honoured with a day named for her and was welcomed by longtime friend Martin Luther King Jr., who gave her the SCLC Drum Beat Award for Musicians two months before his death. Franklin went outside the country for the first time in May, including an appearance at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, where she performed to a near-hysterical audience with flower petals. In June, she appeared on Time magazine's cover.

Franklin was unanimously selected winner of Académie du Jazz's R&B award, Prix Otis Redding, for her albums Lady Soul, Aretha Now, and Aretha in Paris in March 1969. Franklin was the subject of a criminal impersonation campaign this year. Aretha Franklin, another woman appeared at several Florida venues under the name Aretha Franklin. Suspicion was sparked when the fake Franklin charged only at a fraction of what was expected. Franklin's lawyers contacted Florida authorities and discovered a coerce scheme in which Vickie Jones, the singer, was threatened with violence and coerced into impersonating her idol, whom she resembled closely both in voice and appearance. Jones had a brief career of her own, during which she was the object of an impersonation.

Franklin's fame began in the 1970s, when she appeared on televisions "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)" as well as the top ten singles "Spanish Harlem," "Rock Steady," and "Day Dreaming." Some of these albums were from the famed albums Spirit, Dark and Young, Gifted, and Black. Franklin was the first R&B entertainer to headline Fillmore West in 1971, and the live album Aretha Live at Fillmore West debuted later this year.

She returned to Gospel music in January 1972 with the album Amazing Grace, in which she reinterpreted Mahalia Jackson's "How I Got Over" as a live-church recording. Amazing Grace's first appearance on June 1972 was limited to more than two million copies, making it one of the best-selling gospel albums of all time. The live performances were shot for a concert film directed by Sydney Pollack, but after Hollywood refused to endorse a dark-skinned black woman as a movie actress at the time, the film's release was only confirmed by producer Alan Elliott in November 2018.

Franklin's career began to fail when recording the album Hey Now Hey, which featured Quincy Jones' production. Despite the success of single "Angel" on the radio, the album was destroyed shortly after its debut in 1973. Franklin's hits such as "Until You Come Back to Me" and "I'm in Love" were still popular, but her albums and songs were no longer top sellers by 1975. Since Jerry Wexler left Atlantic for Warner Bros. Records in 1976, Franklin worked on the soundtrack to Curtis Mayfield's film Sparkle. "Something He Can Feel," Franklin's last top-40 hit of the decade, debuted on the R&B charts at number one. Franklin's tribute albums for Atlantic, which included Sweet Passion (1977), Almighty Fire (1978), and La Diva (1979), all bombed on the charts, and 1979 Franklin left the firm. "Ladies Only," "What If I Should Ever Need You," and "Yesterday" by the Beatles appeared on November 7, 1979, she performed on The Mike Douglas Show on November 7, 1979.

Franklin signed with Clive Davis' Arista Records in 1980, after leaving Atlantic Records. According to Rolling Stone, "Davis was beguiling and had the golden touch." "If anybody could resurrect Franklin's tumultuous work, it was Davis."

Franklin gave a command appearance at Kensington Albert Hall in front of Queen Elizabeth in 1980. In the 1980 comedy musical The Blues Brothers, Franklin was also a notable guest artist for a soul food restaurant founder and wife of Matt "Guitar" Murphy. Aretha (1980), Franklin's first Arista album, featured the number-three R&B hit "United Together" and her Grammy-nominated cover of Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose." Love All the Hurt Away, 1981, contained her best-selling cover of Sam & Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin," as well as her legendary duet of the title track with George Benson. With the 1982 album Jump to It, Franklin achieved a gold record for the first time in seven years. The album's title track was her first top-40 hit on the pop charts in six years. "Get It Right," a Luther Vandross-produced book, was released the following year.

Who's Zoomin' Who? In 1985, inspired by a desire to have a "newer sound" in her music. Arista's first Arista album to be certified platinum was her first Arista album to be so coveted. Due to hits "Freeway of Love," the album's name track, and "Another Night," the album has sold well over a million copies. With hits "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Jimmy Lee"), and "I Knew You Waiting for Me," George Michael's international number one duet, she almost matched this success. Franklin contributed vocals to the theme songs of A Different World and Together during that time. In 1987, she released One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, which was released at her late father's New Bethel church, followed by Storm in 1989.

Franklin performed "America the Beautiful" at WWE's Wrestlemania III in 1987; one commentator claims that "her WrestleMania III appearance could be the most memorable" of the event openers by many artists on this day.

According to Rolling Stone, "Franklin never had big hits" after 1988. On the charts, 1991's album What You Sweat Is What You Sweat. She returned to the top of the charts in 1993 with the dance song "A Deeper Love" and then returned to the top 40 with the song "Willing to Forgive" in 1994. That video debuted at number 26 on the Hot 100 and number five on the R&B chart, with a top score of 100 and number five.

Franklin produced a music video for a revision of "Think" in 1989. At the MDA Labor Day Telethon in 1990, she sang "I Want to Be Happy," "You Make Me Look Like) A Natural Woman," and "Someone Else's Eyes."

In 1995, she was chosen to appear Aunt Em in The Wiz' revival. "A Rose Is Still a Rose," Franklin's last top 40 hit was "A Rose Is Still a Rose." Following the single, an album of the same name was released. It has over 500,000 copies, receiving gold medalist status.

Franklin also received worldwide recognition for her 1998 Grammy Awards appearance. She was initially invited to appear in honour of the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, in which she appeared with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti was too ill to perform the aria "Nessun dorma" as planned that evening, but it was also begun. The show's designers, who were determined to fill the time slot, confronted Franklin with their question. She was a Pavarotti friend and had sung the aria two nights before at the annual MusiCares festival. She wanted to hear Pavarotti's rehearsal recording, and after listening, she decided she'd perform it in the tenor range in which the orchestra was able to participate. The performance attracted more than 1 billion viewers around the world, and she was lauded for her immediate standing ovation. In the years to come, she will continue to film the pick and perform it live. It was the last time she sang the aria live at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September 2015. As Franklin was still singing, a small boy was so moved by her appearance that he came onto the stage and hugged her.

So Damn Happy, Arista's final album, was released in 2003 and featured the Grammy-winning song "Wonderful." Franklin declared in 2004 that she was leaving Arista after more than 20 years with the brand. Franklin released the duets compilation album Jewels in the Crown, which was a gift to the Queen in 2007. For Super Bowl XL, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" with Aaron Neville and Dr. John in February 2006.

Franklin released This Christmas, Aretha on DMI Records in 2008. Franklin was named as the MusiCares Person of the Year on February 8, 2008, and her album "Never Gonna Break My Faith" had received the Grammy Award for best Gospel performance the year before. In June 2020, an unheardant appearance of "Never Gonna Break My Faith" was released in June 2020 to celebrate Juneteenth with a new video depicting the American human rights movement. Franklin's song made it to the Billboard gospel charts at number one, giving him the distinction of having had a number one hit in every decade since the 1960s. At Dancing with the Stars on November 18, 2008, she performed "Respect" and "Chain of Fools."

Franklin performed "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" at President Barack Obama's inaugural service on January 20, 2009, with her church hat becoming a hot topic online. Franklin received an honorary degree from Yale University in 2010. Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love, her own label, Aretha's Records, was released in 2011.

Franklin was signed by RCA Records, the Arista catalog's controller and a sister label to Columbia through Sony Music Entertainment, and spent time with Clive Davis in 2014. When Danger Mouse left the project, there were plans for her to record an album made by Danger Mouse. On the Late Show with David Letterman, Franklin gave the audience a standing ovation on September 29, 2014, with Cissy Houston as backup, a compilation of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" as a result. Franklin's version of "Rolling in the Deep" was included in nine other songs in her first RCA release, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, which was released in October 2014. With the success of her cover of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" (#47 on the chart), she became the first woman to have 100 songs on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Songs chart.

At the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors in December 2015, Franklin performed "You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" as part of the section dedicated to Charlotte King, co-wrote the song. Franklin bared her fur coat to the stage during the show's bridge, for which the audience lauded her with a standing ovation. According to "Rolling Stone," the coat was symbolic: it "echoed back to when gospel queens would toss their furs on top of other gospel queens' coffins — a gesture that praised the deceased but criticized death itself."

On Thanksgiving Day 2016, she returned to Detroit's Ford Field to once more perform the national anthem before the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions game. Franklin performed a version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that lasted more than four minutes and featured a slew of improvisations while sitting behind the piano, sporting a black fur coat and Lions stocking cap. In November 2017, Franklin performed A Brand New Me with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which features archived Franklin recordings. Before her death, it reached number five on the Billboard Top Classical Albums chart, racking to number two following her death.

Though Franklin cancelled several shows due to health issues in 2017 and, at an outdoor Detroit show, she begged for her talent and showmanship. She gave her last full performance at the Ravinia Festival on September 3, 2017. During Elton John's 25th anniversary gala for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York City on November 7, 2017, Franklin's last public appearance was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

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Gabrielle, a 90s pop sensation, is making a comeback after she opens the truth about why she took a 15-year music break

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www.dailymail.co.uk, February 24, 2024
Dear Bel, I'm a truck driver who works a 15-hour day at 73. I married a posh girl I adored in my twenties because she was skinny. (I hate myself for this), but if a woman put on weight I'd engineer a split.) We had two children that I loved, but she had an affair. Pat, a 7-year-old girl, became my st., so we split up but stayed friends. I went to Thailand with a friend to enjoy bachelor life, but I started a four-year relationship. It was because I didn't marry because I wasn't interested.

JENNI MURRAY: Now I know why Rebecca Ferguson's career did not go well

www.dailymail.co.uk, January 31, 2024
I'll never forget watching a young, working-class Liverpool girl take the spotlight in 2010. Rebecca Ferguson was her name. This week, Rebecca appeared before the cross-party Women and Equalities Committee to testify for the Misogyny in Music investigation. Women in the music industry face 'endemic' discrimination,' according to the report, which was described as a "boys' club." Ferguson had some success with her debut album and a few TV appearances. In 2012, she announced that she would be suing her management company; they had been doing her jobs until she died.
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