Women in the Arts: Aretha Franklin

This “Queen of Soul“ deserves much “RESPECT“ for her amazing voice, piano skills and greatest accomplishments as a woman.

Aretha Franklin’s musical abilities began to show when she was very young. She was regarded as a child prodigy with both the piano and her beautifully powerful voice. Franklin first began singing for her father, Reverend Clarence La Vaughan’s, church.

Her earliest tracks were recorded at her fathers church by the age of 14, and were released by a small labeling company as the album “Songs of Faith“.

While singing in her father’s church choir, Franklin met many gospel legends such as Sam Cooke, Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward.

While traveling on the road so often with her father’s group, Franklin was exposed to many adult behaviors, an ended up having a baby by named Clarence. Two years later, at the age of 16, Franklin gave birth to another baby boy named Edward. Both boys took her families name.

Franklin took a break from the road after having her two sons.

After her break from the spotlight, Franklin returned to performing and began to follow in the footsteps of Cooke and Dinah Washington, which included a dive into the pop and blues genres.

With her fathers blessing, Franklin moved to New York in 1960, and in 1961, she signed with Columbia Records labeling company and released the album “Aretha“ in 1961.

Franklin came in the Top 10 hits many times over again, and though that became known as the “Queen of Soul“.

At the time of earning her new title, the Queen of Soul also became a symbol for Black empowerment during the Civil Rights Movement.

Franklin earned the honor of being the first female artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Along with her place in the R&R Hall, Franklin also earned 18 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a Kennedy Center Honors award, the Presidential Medal fo Freedom, and became the second women to ever be inducted into the United Kingdoms Music hall of Fame.

Franklin also had to honor of having a movie created based on her life story. Before her death on August 16, 2018, Franklin hand-picked actress and singer Jennifer Hudson to play her role in the upcoming movie.

The movie “Respect“ will finally be released on August 13, 2021.