Welcome To The Archive for "Aretha Franklin"! Yay!

Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, civil rights activist, actress, and pianist. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was minister. At the age of 18, she embarked on a secular career recording for Columbia Records. However, she achieved only modest success. Franklin found acclaim and commercial success after signing with Atlantic Records in 1966. Hit songs such as “Respect”, “Chain of Fools”, “Think”, A Natural Woman”, “I Never Loved a Man”, and “I Say a Little Prayer”, propelled Franklin past her musical peers. By the end of the 1960s, Aretha Franklin had come to be known as “The Queen of Soul”.

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