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 Franklin, who won 18 Grammy Awards and had some 25 gold records,
died at her home in Detroit surrounded by family and loved ones,
her publicist said. She had been battling advanced pancreatic
cancer.
Calling it one of the darkest moments of their lives, Franklin's
family said they were unable to find the appropriate words to
express the pain in their hearts.
"We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she
had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins
knew no bounds," her family said in a statement.
Franklin's father was a Baptist preacher in Detroit, and the
gospel singing she heard in his church was her musical
foundation. Her uniquely emotional and powerful voice would put
her at the forefront of 1960s soul music along with Otis
Redding, Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett.
Franklin was active in the U.S. civil rights movement and sang
at the funeral of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King,
Jr in 1968.
She also performed at the presidential inaugurations of Barack
Obama and Bill Clinton. In 1987, she became the first woman
voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Rolling Stone
magazine in 2010 named her the No. 1 singer of the rock era.
After recording and touring as a young gospel singer, Franklin's
career took a secular turn in 1961 when she signed with Columbia
Records. She had only modest success with Columbia, which had
trouble classifying her style and tried to steer her toward pop.
She switched to Atlantic Records in the mid-1960s, where
producer Jerry Wexler put her powerful voice in a setting that
combined gospel, soul and rock, and made her a superstar by
letting "the lady wail." As Franklin put it in her
autobiography, she "Aretha-ized" the music.
Singer John Legend called her the greatest vocalist he had ever
known. "Salute to the Queen," he wrote on Twitter.
Fellow singer Diana Ross tweeted: "I'm sitting in prayer for the
wonderful golden spirit Aretha Franklin."
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: "She was a great
woman, with a wonderful gift from God, her voice. She will be
missed!"
Former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, issued a
statement saying Franklin "helped us feel more connected to each
other, more hopeful, more human. And sometimes she helped us
just forget about everything else and dance."
STRING OF HITS
Franklin's heyday extended into the early 1970s as she dominated
the music charts with "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love
You)," "Baby, I Love You," "Chain of Fools," "Think," "(You Make
Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "Do-Right Woman" and "Respect,"
a cover of a Redding tune that became a song of empowerment
during the civil rights era.
Franklin's popularity faded, then revived in the mid-1980s with
songs such as "Freeway of Love," a duet with George Michael
named "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)," "Sisters Are Doin' It
for Themselves," "Who's Zoomin' Who?" and a cover of the Rolling
Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
Franklin also inspired a generation of singers.
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"Pop music today is rich with glorious gospel voices and women
singers in the mold cast by Aretha," the late Wexler said in his
autobiography. "Aretha became a model for people like Chaka Khan,
Natalie Cole, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston ... The list of her
disciples is long."
Franklin was privately known to be shy, moody, imperious and
difficult. She often did not get along with other women singers,
including her sisters, could be quick to fire underlings and was
erratic when it came to showing up for concerts and appointments.
Franklin often demanded she be paid in cash before performing and
took her status as musical royalty seriously. In 2008, Beyonce
introduced Tina Turner as "the queen" at the Grammy Awards ceremony,
which Franklin decried as "a cheap shot" at her.
PREACHER'S DAUGHTER
Franklin was born March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised
in Detroit. Her father, the Reverend C.L. Franklin, was respected as
a civil rights leader, an early advocate of "black pride" and a
friend of King.
But Rev. Franklin had also been arrested for drug possession and,
under unexplained circumstances, his wife left him and their five
children when Aretha was six. Four years later, Franklin's mother
died and Aretha avoided discussing her parents publicly.
Franklin started touring as a teenager in her father's gospel show.
She got a musical education from gospel greats: the Staple Singers,
the Soul Stirrers, James Cleveland and The Mighty Clouds of Joy.
She also came to know jazz and R&B greats invited to the family
home, including Cooke, Art Tatum, Dinah Washington, Fats Domino and
Bobby Bland.
By 17, she had given birth to two children and later had two other
sons. First married to Ted White, who became her manager and
publicly abused her, Franklin later married actor Glynn Turman in
1978, but they divorced in 1984.
Franklin, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005,
was the subject of a singing tribute at the February 2011 Grammy
Awards ceremony and a Carnegie Hall tribute concert in early 2017.
She did not attend either.
Franklin did not perform regularly for many years, partly because of
an aversion to flying after a rough trip in 1982. Instead, she
traveled in a customized bus. She often had to cancel shows for
health reasons.
In February 2017, she said she would keep recording but retire from
touring after a limited run of concerts marking a new album that
year, "A Brand New Me," which featured her doing some of her biggest
hits with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
She performed "Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center Honors in
December 2015 in a tribute to songwriter Carole King. Her last live
performance was Nov. 7, 2017, for the Elton John AIDS Foundation
gala in New York.
(Editing by Daniel Wallis, David Gregorio and G Crosse)
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