Aretha Franklin in her "Freeway of Love" video.
Aretha Louise Franklin was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and pianist, whose recording career has spanned over half a century. She is known as one of the most influential singers of the soul music genre and is referred to as the Queen of Soul.
She formed a pop music career at the age of eighteen and, in late 1966, she began recording a string of popular hits including "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Think", "Chain of Fools" and "Respect".
Franklin continued to record a string of popular singles throughout the early 1970s, reaching her peak as an albums artist with 1970's Spirit in the Dark, 1971's Young, Gifted & Black and the 1972 gospel record, Amazing Grace, which became the best-selling pure gospel album of all time. Her singles from this period include "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)", "I'm in Love" and "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" and the 1976 soundtrack to the movie, Sparkle.
In 1980, she switched over from soul and funk music to urban adult contemporary sound in the albums, Aretha and Love All the Hurt Away, and the 1982 album, Jump to It, which was produced by Luther Vandross.
In 1984, she added pop rock and dance elements to her sound onto her 1985 album, Who's Zoomin' Who?. The album included the singles "Freeway of Love", "Who's Zoomin' Who" and "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" with Eurythmics. The 1986 release of Aretha featured her last number-one hit single "I Knew You Were Waiting for Me" with George Michael. Her 1998 album, A Rose Is Still a Rose, incorporated modern day contemporary R&B and featured the title track returned her to the top 40 of the pop charts.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its "100 Greatest Singers of All Time" list, as well as the ninth greatest artist of all time. She has won a total of 20 career Grammy Awards, including two honorary Grammys, and she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On August 14, 2012, Franklin was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame. She is ranked first among female vocalists with the most Billboard Hot 100 chart hits during the rock era with 73.
Franklin died on August 16, 2018.