Aretha Franklin

Also known as The Queen of Soul, Aretha Louise Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Regarded as the "Queen of Soul", she was twice named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest singer of all time.

OverviewAI-generated

Aretha Franklin was an American female singer, songwriter, activist, and pianist. Born in Memphis in 1942, she possessed a mezzo-soprano voice and performed genres including soul, funk, gospel music, and pop music. She recorded for Arista Records, Atlantic Records, Columbia Records, and Warner Music Group. Her influences included Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, George Michael, and Nat King Cole.

Franklin received the National Medal of Arts, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and Grammy Legend Award. She was also nominated for several Grammy Awards, including Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Performance. Her work is recognized in the Pulitzer Prize, Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and Kennedy Center Honors collections. She was a member of the Democratic Party and was married to Glynn Turman.

Synthesized by Vinony from 30 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, MusicBrainz, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Film & TV

Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the "Queen of Soul", Rolling Stone twice named her as the greatest singer of all time. With global sales of over 75 million records, Franklin is one of the world's best-selling music artists. As a child, Franklin was noticed for her gospel singing at New Bethel Baptist Church…

Known for

Sean Combs: The Reckoning — Self (archive footage)2025
Mr. McMahon — Self (Archive Footage)2024
Stax: Soulsville USA — Self - (Archive Footage)2024
Burt Bacharach at the BBC — Self (archive footage)2023
WHAM! — Self (archive footage)2023
They All Came Out to Montreux — Self (archive footage)2023
George Michael: Portrait of an Artist — Self (archive footage)2023
2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony — Self (archive footage)2022
Behind the beats, histoires de la pop music — Self (voice)2022
Aretha Franklin, soul sister — Self (archive footage)2020

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Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Female
Country: United States
Active from: 1942
Active to: 2018

Discography

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: human
Given name: Louise
Family name: Franklin
Gender: female
Citizenship: United States
Place of birth: Memphis
Place of death: Detroit
Father: C. L. Franklin
Sibling: Carolyn Franklin
Occupation: record producer
Political party: Democratic Party (United States)
Languages spoken: English language
Native language: English language
Religion: Anglicanism
Award: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Genre: rhythm and blues
Instrument: voice
Record label: Columbia Records
Discography: Aretha Franklin discography
Official website: www.arethafranklin.net
Image: Aretha Franklin 1968.jpg
Number of children: 4
Residence: Memphis
Voice type: mezzo-soprano

Show 16 more facts

Commons category: Aretha Franklin
date of birth: 1942-03-25
ethnic group: African Americans
topic's main category: Category:Aretha Franklin
nominated for: Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
date of death: 2018-08-16
name in native language: Aretha Louise Franklin
nickname: Queen of soul
start of work period: 1956-00-00
end of work period: 2017-00-00
cause of death: pancreatic cancer
manner of death: natural causes
on focus list of Wikimedia project: Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
social media followers: 140847
topic has template: Template:Aretha Franklin
has works in the collection: Museum of Modern Art

Sources (11)

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Encyclopedic overview

Aretha Louise Franklin (/əˈriːθə/ ə-REE-thə; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Regarded as the "Queen of Soul", she was twice named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest singer of all time.

As a child, Franklin was noticed for her gospel singing at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister. At the age of 18, she was signed as a recording artist for Columbia Records. While her career did not immediately flourish, Franklin found acclaim and commercial success once she signed with Atlantic Records in 1966. There, she recorded significant hit albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul and Aretha Now in the late 1960s and Young, Gifted and Black, Amazing Grace and Sparkle in the 1970s, before experiencing problems with the record company. Franklin left Atlantic in 1979 and signed with Arista Records, where her career was revived with the hit albums Jump to It, Who's Zoomin' Who?, Aretha and A Rose Is Still a Rose.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Aretha Franklin” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.