Aretha Franklin

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March 25, 1942

Aretha Louise Franklin

Glynn Turman (11 April 1978 - 7 February 1984) (divorced)

Ted White (1962 - 1969) (divorced) 1 child

1956 Songs of Faith

1961 Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo

1962 The Electrifying Aretha Franklin

1962 The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin

1963 Laughing on the Outside

1964 Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington

1964 Runnin' Out of Fools

1965 Yeah!!!

1966 Soul Sister

1967 Take It Like You Give It

1967 I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

1967 Aretha Arrives

1968 Lady Soul

1968 Aretha Now

1969 Soul '69

1970 This Girl's in Love with You

1970 Spirit in the Dark

1972 Young, Gifted and Black

1972 Amazing Grace

1973 Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky)

1974 Let Me in Your Life

1974 With Everything I Feel in Me

1975 You

1976 Sparkle (soundtrack)

1977 Sweet Passion

1978 Almighty Fire

1979 La Diva

1980 Aretha

1981 Love All the Hurt Away

1982 Jump to It

1983 Get It Right

1985 Who's Zoomin' Who?

1986 Aretha

1987 One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism

1989 Through the Storm

1991 What You See Is What You Sweat

1998 A Rose Is Still a Rose

2003 So Damn Happy

2008 This Christmas, Aretha

2011 Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love

Actress

1999 Home for the Holidays: The Family Tree (TV movie)

1998 Blues Brothers 2000

1980 The Blues Brothers

1972 Room 222 (TV series)

Appearances

2011 Today (TV series)

2000-2011 The Oprah Winfrey Show (TV series)

2011 CBS News Sunday Morning (TV series)

2011 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (TV series)

2011 The Wendy Williams Show (TV series) (voice)

2010 My Music: Aretha Franklin Presents Soul Rewind (TV movie)

2006-2010 Entertainment Tonight (TV series)

2009-2010 Larry King Live (TV series)

2010 VH1 Rock Docs (TV series)

2009 The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (TV movie)

2009 Rachael Ray (TV series)

2009 Christmas in Rockefeller Center (TV movie)

2009 The 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert (TV special)

2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Live: I'll Take You There (video)

2009 A Capitol Fourth (TV special)

2009 President Obama: The Inauguration (TV movie)

2008 Live with Regis and Kelly (TV series)

2008 Dancing with the Stars (TV series)

2008 TV One on One (TV series)

2008 39th NAACP Image Awards (TV movie)

2008 The 50th Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

2007 American Masters (TV series documentary)

2007 WrestleMania 23 (TV movie)

2007 An Evening of Stars: Tribute to Aretha Franklin (TV special)

2006 The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (TV movie)

2006 2006 Trumpet Awards (TV movie)

2006 Super Bowl XL (TV special)

2006 21st Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards (TV movie)

2005 The 59th Annual Tony Awards (TV special)

2005 The 32nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards (TV special)

2005 From the Heart: The Four Tops 50th Anniversary & Celebration (TV special documentary)

2005 The 10th Annual Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards (TV movie)

2004 Tavis Smiley (TV series)

2004 Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular (TV special)

2003 The 9th Annual Walk of Fame Honoring Aretha Franklin (TV special)

2003 Singing in the Shadow: The Children of Rock Royalty (documentary)

2003 Sam Cooke: Legend (video documentary)

2003 American Soundtrack: Rhythm, Love and Soul (TV special documentary)

2003 The 45th Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

2003 Tom Dowd & the Language of Music (documentary)

2001 Say It Loud: A Celebration of Black Music in America (TV mini-series documentary)

2001 VH1 Divas Live: The One and Only Aretha Franklin (TV special)

2001 An Evening of Stars: A Celebration of Educational Excellence (TV special documentary)

2000 Immaculate Funk

1999 ABC 2000: The Millennium (TV documentary)

1999 Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael (video documentary) ("I Knew You Were Waiting" video)

1999 Arista Records' 25th Anniversary Celebration (TV special documentary)

1998 The Stories Behind the Making of 'The Blues Brothers' (video documentary)

1998 Behind the Music (TV series documentary)

1998 The Making of 'Blues Brothers 2000' (video documentary short)

1997-1998 The Rosie O'Donnell Show (TV series)

1998 Divas Live: An Honors Concert for VH1 Save the Music (TV documentary)

1998 Late Show with David Letterman (TV series)

1998 Motown 40: The Music Is Forever (TV documentary)

1998 A Celebration of America's Music (TV special)

1998 The 40th Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

1997 The 39th Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

1997 28th NAACP Image Awards (TV special)

1995 Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King (TV special documentary)

1995 The Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (TV special documentary)

1995 The History of Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 5 (TV documentary)

1994 The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (TV special)

1994 Christmas at Home with the Stars (TV special)

1994 Sinatra Duets (TV special)

1994 The Essence Awards (TV movie) ,br
1994 The Atlantic Records Story (TV special)

1980-1994 Saturday Night Live (TV series)

1994 The 36th Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

1993 The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (TV special)

1993 1993 Essence Awards (TV movie)

1993 Aretha Franklin: Duets (TV special)

1992 The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (TV special)

1992 The 34th Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

1991 Murphy Brown (TV series)

1991 Eurythmics: Greatest Hits (video documentary)
(segment "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves")

1991 Golden Age of Rock'n'Roll (TV series documentary)

1990 Grammy Legends (TV special)

1990 Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones (documentary)

1990 Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon (TV series)

1990 Night of 100 Stars III (TV movie)

1990 The 5th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards (TV movie)

1989 The 3rd Annual Soul Train Music Awards (TV special)

1989 5th Annual Soap Opera Awards (TV movie)

1986-1988 Lou Rawls Parade of Stars (TV series)

1983-1988 Ebony/Jet Showcase (TV series)

1988 Cissy Houston: Sweet Inspiration (documentary)

1988 James Brown & Friends: Set Fire to the Soul (video documentary)

1988 Living the Dream: A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (TV special)

1988 Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul (TV documentary)

1987 WrestleMania III (video)

1987 Rolling Stone Presents Twenty Years of Rock & Roll (TV documentary)

1986 Fame, Fortune and Romance (TV series)

1986 Motown on Showtime: Temptations and Four Tops (TV documentary)

1986 Women in Rock (video documentary)

1983 The 10th Annual American Music Awards (TV special)

1982 The Rodney Dangerfield Show: It's Not Easy Bein' Me (TV movie)

1982 Solid Gold (TV series)

1970-1981 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (TV series)

1981 The 23rd Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

1980 Omnibus (TV series)

1980 The John Davidson Show (TV series)

1980 Horas doradas (TV series)

1980 Good Morning America (TV series)

1973-1979 Soul Train (TV series documentary)

1964-1979 The Mike Douglas Show (TV series)

1978 Live Wednesday (TV series)

1978 A Salute to American Imagination (TV documentary)

1978 The 50th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1962-1978 American Bandstand (TV series)

1978 The 5th Annual American Music Awards (TV movie)

1973-1978 The Midnight Special (TV series)

1977 Dinah! (TV series)

1977 The All-Star Gong Show Special (TV movie)

1977 All You Need Is Love (TV series documentary)

1977 The 4th Annual American Music Awards (TV special)

1977 Jimmy Carter's Inaugural Gala (TV movie)

1975 Bob Hope on Campus (TV movie)

1975 The 47th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1975 The 17th Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

1971-1973 Flip (TV series)

1973 Duke Ellington... We Love You Madly (TV special)

1972 Black Rodeo (documentary)

1972 The 14th Annual Grammy Awards (TV special)

1972 Sympathy for the Devil (TV series documentary)

1970 The David Frost Show (TV series)

1970 This Is Tom Jones (TV series documentary)

1970 It's Lulu (TV series)

1968-1970 Top of the Pops (TV series)

1969 The Andy Williams Show (TV series)

1969 The 41st Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1968 The Hollywood Palace (TV series)

1968 The Jonathan Winters Show (TV series)

1967 The Kraft Music Hall (TV series)

1967 The Joey Bishop Show (TV series)

1964 The New Steve Allen Show (TV series)

Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards

2007 Nominated Critics Choice Award Best Song for: Bobby (2006). Shared with: Mary J. Blige For the song "Never Gonna Break My Faith".

Image Awards

2008 Won Chairman's Award

1999 Nominated Image Award Outstanding Performance in a Variety Series/Special for: The 40th Annual Grammy Awards (1998) (TV).

1997 Won Hall of Fame Shared with: George Clinton

1996 Nominated Image Award Outstanding Performance in a Variety Series/Special for: Aretha Franklin: Going Home (TV) .

Grammy Awards

1968 Best Rhythm & Blues Recording R&B Respect

1968 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Respect

1969 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Chain Of Fools

1970 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Share Your Love With Me

1971 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Don't Play That Song For Me

1972 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Bridge Over Troubled Water

1973 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Young, Gifted and Black (album)

1973 Best Soul Gospel Performance Gospel Amazing Grace (album)

1974 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Master Of Eyes

1975 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing

1982 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Hold On...I'm Comin' (album track)

1986 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Freeway Of Love

1988 Best Female R&B Vocal Performance R&B Aretha (album)

1988 Best R&B Performance – Duo Or Group with Vocals R&B I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) (with George Michael)

1989 Best Soul Gospel Performance – Female Gospel One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism (album)

1991 Living Legend Award Special

1994 Lifetime Achievement Award Special

2004 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance R&B Wonderful

2006 Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance R&B A House Is Not A Home

2008 Best Gospel-Soul Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group Gospel Never Gonna Break My Faith (with Mary J. Blige)

1999: She was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, DC.

Walk Of Fame

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6920 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

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The undisputed Queen of Soul since the title was first applied to her in the late 1960s, Aretha Franklin has been hailed as the greatest soul diva of all time. Possessing a voice of power and passion (and an underrated talent on the piano) she turned her attention to everything from pop through jazz to classical; but with a grounding in gospel it was in soul music that she found her finest hours and her true home.

The Columbia Years

She was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on 25 March 1942 to parents who were both nationally successful singers. She moved to Detroit with her family in 1949 and made her first recordings at the age of 14 singing hymns in her father's New Bethel Baptist Church, also going on tour with him and her sisters Carolyn and Erma (who would both have successful singing careers of their own).

By 1960, she was tackling secular material, and was signed by John Hammond to Columbia (having also, it is rumoured, been wooed by Motown).

Columbia saw her as a crossover pop and jazz artist, and although she had a string of minor hits for them in the early 1960s (the biggest a cover of the Al Jolson standard 'Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody'), her talent was generally not well served by the choice of material.

The Atlantic Years

If the Columbia recordings were poorly focused, things came together with laserlike intensity in 1967 when she moved to Atlantic Records. The combination of Aretha Franklin with producer Jerry Wexler, arranger Arif Mardin and the rock-solid R&B of the Muscle Shoals rhythm section lit a fuse that delivered an opening salvo of 10 Top 10 hits for the label in her first two years alone. The very first recording session resulted in the smouldering gospel-tinged 'I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)', which opened her account at No. 9; the hastily convened second produced one of the defining moments of popular music, her blazing take on Otis Redding's 'Respect'. It was an instant US No. 1, resonating resoundingly with the rising confidence and pride of the black community, which broke her worldwide.

The success of 'Respect' was instrumental in the introduction of a new Grammy Award category in 1967, that of Best Female R&B Vocal, which Aretha won for the next eight years. From the start at Atlantic, and perhaps as the legacy of her Columbia years, she tackled material by an eclectic range of writers from both within the circle of soul and beyond: Goffin and King, Lennon and McCartney, Bacharach and David, Curtis Mayfield and Elton John all received early attention and chart success in her hands. With her gospel roots Aretha was a gifted arranger of vocals on many of her hits, and she and her sister Carolyn also featured in writing credits.

Unusually for a female soul singer at that time, her albums also sold consistently well. Her domination of the charts continued in the early 1970s and included what many consider to be her finest LP, the 1972 live, double gospel set Amazing Grace. By the mid-1970s, however, she was beginning to lose her way; experimenting with different producers, the recordings (and the live concerts) became more lavish productions, but the choice of songs was erratic, with some ill-judged departures into disco.

The Later Years

A switch of labels to Arista in 1980 had little initial impact, although a cameo appearance in the film The Blues Brothers the same year helped to re-establish the reputation of her world-changing early work. 1985 saw a return to form: a UK Top 10 entry with the anthemic Eurythmics collaboration 'Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves', and a US NO. 1 with 'Freeway Of Love'. Her rousing 1986 duet with George Michael 'I Knew You Were Waiting' was No. 1 in both countries.

With more US pop and R&B hits than any other woman Franklin's status as a soul institution is assured. But rather than see the century out with an untaxing schedule of celebrity duets and compilation releases, she drew admiration in 1998 for A Rose Is Still A Rose, on which she worked with contemporary R&B artists (notably on the Lauryn Hill title track).

In 2006 aged 64 she won her 17th Grammy before performing 'My Country 'Tis Of Thee' at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration three years later.

First woman to be admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.

Suffers from a fear of flying

She gave birth to her first child at age 14, the second at age 16.

Godmother of Whitney Houston

She can't read music.