Aretha Frankin - The Queen of Soul
We
lost a member of the R&B royalty in 2018 when The Queen of Soul,
Aretha Franklin, died August 2018. Born in 1942, Aretha grew up in the
New Bethel Baptist Church (her father was the Minister), but pursued a
secular career in music starting when she was 18, recording for Columbia
Records. By the time is was 24 years old she was recording an amazing
string of hits for Atlantic Records (such as "Respect", "Chain of
Fools", "Think", "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", and "I Say a
Little Prayer".)
She
was not just a singer, she was a songwriter, pianist, and civil rights
activist. She played piano on many of her greatest recordings. 112
charted singles on Billboard, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B
entries, and 20 number-one R&B singles. Wow. Better late than never,
the Pulitzer Prize jury in 2019 awarded Franklin a posthumous special
citation "for her indelible contribution to American music and culture
for more than five decades."
Here
is one of her last public performances, at the Kennedy Center Honors in
2015. Aretha comes on stage with her fur and her purse, like she just
stopped in from shopping somewhere. Carole King almost falls out of her
seat as Aretha SINGS the song that Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote
for her, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman".
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