Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee. She and her sisters Carolyn and Erma began singing in the church choir from the time they could barely even speak -- their father was Reverend C.L. Franklin, a powerful orator and respected gospel singer in his own right. After he moved the family north to Detroit, he became known for his magnetic public appearances. Through their father, Aretha and her sisters got to know major gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward; they also became acquainted with future R&B stars like Smokey Robinson and Sam Cooke. At the age of 12, Aretha become a featured soloist during church sermons, and made her first recordings as a gospel artist by the time she reached 14. The Gospel Sound of Aretha Franklin was released in 1956. Encouraged by the success of Sam Cooke's R&B/pop recordings (Cooke had previously only sung gospel material), 18-year-old Aretha moved to New York City in 1960. She was signed to Columbia Records, and released several singles and albums with the label between 1960 and 1966. Although she managed to score two top 10 R&B singles with Columbia, she wasn't able to really cut loose with the type of material being offered. The label promoted her as a singer of jazz and pop standards, which wasn't where Aretha was coming from. She was signed to Atlantic Records, a label renowned for its roster of R&B artists, by producer Jerry Wexler in 1967. Wexler and the group of musicians he assembled to back her in the studio helped bring out the raw, gritty energy that was lacking from her Columbia recordings. The result was a blend of gospel, blues, pop, and R&B that was coming to be known as "soul" music around that time. "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You)" was released in February 1967, went to No. 9 on the pop charts, and spent an incredible nine weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's R&B charts. The album of the same name reached No. 2 on the pop charts, and also included the song that she's become best known for.



Aretha returned to the Gospel world in 1987 with her album One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism which was recorded live at her New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit. However, the disc was a far cry from her 1972 Gospel effort and had middling sales. Subsequent follow-ups such as 1989's Through The Storm and 1991's What You See Is What You Sweat sold poorly and failed to produce any major mainstream hits - other than the former's title track Elton John duet - but her career got a slight boost in 1993 when she scored a dance-club hit with "Deeper Love" off the Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit soundtrack. In 1994, she scored another R&B and Pop hit with the Babyface-produced ballad, "Willing To Forgive".



Following the success of A Rose Is Still A Rose, Franklin has continued recording if only sporadically. Her most recent release was 2003's So Damn Happy, which included the Grammy-winning track "Wonderful". Shortly after its release, Franklin left Arista Records after twenty-three years with the company. She has since started her own label, Aretha Records, and plans to issue her long-promised new album, A Woman Falling Out Of Love in 2008.