Franklin Aretha

American singer of gospel, soul and rhythm and blues music, known as "The Queen of Soul" by the end of the 1960s. Also a songwriter and pianist, she won 18 Grammy Awards, including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, from 1968 through to 1975, and is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and 20 number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in the charts history. After 58 albums and countless sold out performances, Franklin heartily embraced her success, but never forgot her roots. Music was an integral part of her life since birth. Her mother Barbara was a pianist and choir mistress and her father, C. L. Franklin, was one of the countrys most powerful black ministers, operating a branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference known as the New Bethel Baptist Church. Growing up in Detroit, Michigan, Aretha was the favored daughter of the Franklins four children; whose musical ability showed early in her fathers church and whose charismatic talents exactly mirrored those of her parents. Standing on a chair behind the podium in church, the small child astonished parishioners in her first public performance with her four-octave version of the gospel classic "Jesus Be a Fence." Her warm and nurturing early environment came to an abrupt halt in 1948 when Barbara permanently left her family due to her husbands frequent philandering. Franklins grandmother, "Big Mama," kept the family together, including a step-brother from her mothers first marriage. Mother Barbara Franklins death in 1952 opened more wounds for the family, some of which never healed, as Aretha never spoke of her mothers death in public. Friends later recalled, "I think that was the worst that could happen to her, not to know her mother." By age 14, it was clear that Aretha was her fathers favorite as she toured throughout the South with him as the featured member of The New Bethel choir. She made her first gospel recording at this age followed by her first hit at age 15. Her success brought personal setbacks. During the next three years, Franklin would give birth to two sons by two different men whom she did not marry, first becoming an unwed mother at 14. She never identified their fathers. In a confessional society, Franklin believed in the dignity of silence. "Trying to grow up is hurting, you know. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them and when you dont it hurts even more. And Ive been hurt - hurt bad." As a testament to her independence of spirit, Franklin never played the role of the wounded woman, even in song. "She would never do a song of self-pity... the scorned woman, the hurt woman, that was absolutely out." Bumped off the "Ed Sullivan Show" in the late fifties for showing too much cleavage, Franklin was later given the reason there were too many artists appearing that evening and she was cut. She ran out in tears. In 1961 Franklin married Ted White, put him in charge of her career and subsequently had a third son with him. White was not popular with Franklins family, especially her Revered father and the alleged rumors of Whites abusive treatment toward his wife manifested into public spectacles. They divorced in 1969. Whether or not Franklin suffered in her private life, her public li Read less