Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin, born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, and who died on August 16, 2018, in Detroit, Michigan, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter of soul, jazz, gospel, and rhythm and blues. She is frequently nicknamed "The Queen Of Soul".

A civil rights activist alongside Martin Luther King, a fighter, a diva, and a spokesperson for an entire people, Aretha Franklin is considered the most influential African-American singer of the 20th century. Her albums I Never Loved a Man in 1967, Lady Soul in 1968, and Young, Gifted & Black in 1972 redefined the codes of contemporary music by popularising soul music, blending R&B and gospel, with Ray Charles. Her greatest hits include the songs: Think, Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, I Say a Little Prayer, I Never Loved A Man, Ain't No Way, I Knew You Were Waiting in a duet with George Michael, Freeway of Love, Chain of Fools, and Angel.

Chain of Fools became a protest song against the Vietnam War among American combatants. Respect became a feminist anthem in 1967 and a symbol of the African-American community's fight for freedom.

Aretha's influence on contemporary music is vast, paving the way for other great female performers, including Patti LaBelle, Donna Summer, Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, Adele, and Alicia Keys. Tom Jones, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Prince, David Bowie, and Luther Vandross also noted the singer's influence on their way of making music and singing. Aretha Franklin was indeed one of the first artists to accompany herself on the piano and popularised melisma in contemporary music, a technique that consists of singing multiple notes on a single syllable.

She is the most charted female singer in the history of the American recording industry with 112 titles placed on the American charts, including twenty number 1s in the R&B category. With over 80 million copies sold, she remains today the female artist who has sold the most vinyl records and, more generally, one of the artists who has sold the most records.

With eighteen Grammy Awards, Aretha Franklin is one of the most awarded artists in the United States. In 1987, she was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She received the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour for an American citizen. In 2010 and 2023, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her first among the greatest singers of all time. In 2019, the Pulitzer Prize jury posthumously awarded her the prize "for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades". In 2020, Rolling Stone magazine established its ranking of the 500 greatest albums of all time in collaboration with three hundred music professionals. Aretha placed four albums there: I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) (13th), Lady Soul (75th), Amazing Grace (154th, the best-selling gospel album in history), and Young, Gifted & Black (388th).

Upon her death, her activism for women and the African-American community, as well as her artistic talent, were celebrated.