photo by Cecilio Ricardo, U.S. Air Force
Public Domain
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin was known as one of the greatest singers to ever lived. Her singing voice had a power and range that very few can match!
But it wasn't only her voice, but the meaning behind her songs that made her a legend.
Her most famous song "Respect" where spells out the word, came out in 1967 when the vocal demands for racial and gender equality were getting louder and harder to ignore. It was a song to boost the confidence and self-esteem of African-American women who have long suffered the double whammy of being born on the wrong end of racial and gender inequality. I don't have the stats, but I am sure that song encouraged millions to stand up to the racist, sexist and any other abuse they had put up within their lives.
It wasn't only militancy that made Franklin a legend, it also her more joyful sensual side, expressed in her other major hits like "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman".
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Franklin's grew up with a minister father who was active in the civil rights movement. She moved around during childhood, born in Memphis, then spent time in Buffalo and then Detroit. Detroit became the center of African-American culture in the 1960s when the record label Motown became a hit machine with various local acts turned global stars like Diana Ross and Smoky Robinson. But Aretha Franklin never did a record with Motown, she worked with already established major labels like Columbia (where started with some minor hits) and Atlantic (for whom she had become a superstar). She later moved on to Arista Records in the 1980s where she remained relevant by collaborating with then-new stars like George Michael and appeared in the cult comedy film "Blue Brothers".
Aretha Franklin was a major inspiration to the music superstars that came after her. Whitney Houston (whose mother was a backup singer for Aretha Franklin), Mariah Carey, Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Faith Evans, Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguillera were among the many whose musical roots trace back to Aretha Franklin.
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Sadly, the last few years of Aretha Franklin's life have been hit with health issues that forced her to cancel performances. She had been suffering from pancreatic cancer when died in her own home at the age of 76.
The Queen of Soul might've moved on to heaven, but her musical legacy will live on for a long time.
