Then, after marrying Ted White, she had a third son, Teddy White Jr. Aretha's youngest son Kecalf was born in 1970. [171][172] The cause of death was a malignant pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor (pNET),[173][174] which is distinct from the most common form of pancreatic cancer. Franklins entire family also supported her both personally and professionally, standing by her as she achieved worldwide fame while raising children and going through two divorces. Franklin maintained a residence there until her death. While there, he had a child with a 12-year-old member of his congregation when he was 25. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Before that, he graduated as valedictorian from Morehouse College and worked as an assistant pastor for three years. By marrying Turman, Franklin became stepmother of Turman's three children. The family also confirmed her death was due to advanced pancreatic cancer of . Franklin paid tribute to him and her father in a memorial service at their church in 2015. She eventually settled in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Encino, where she lived until 1982. Aretha Franklin died of advanced pancreatic cancer on August 16, 2018, in Detroit, Michigan. Franklin won 18 Grammy Awards (out of 44 nominations),[4][5] including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (19681975), a Grammy Awards Living Legend honor and Lifetime Achievement Award. She had initially been asked to perform in honor of the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, in which she appeared with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. In 2019 she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation "[f]or her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades". The paternity of Franklin's oldest son has long been shrouded in mystery. But who were Aretha's siblings and where are they now? In 1960 Franklin transitioned from sacred to secular music. [153] She admitted in 1994 that her smoking was "messing with my voice",[154] but after quitting smoking she said later, in 2003, that her weight "ballooned". Both stations were originally named after other people. Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin. Her sister Carolyn died in April 1988 from breast cancer and her eldest sister Erma died from throat cancer in September 2002. [67] That year, Franklin was the subject of a criminal impersonation scheme. Over one billion people worldwide saw the performance, and she received an immediate standing ovation. There were plans for her to record an album produced by Danger Mouse, who was replaced with Babyface and Don Was when Danger Mouse left the project. The Queen of Soul largely avoided keeping her. Cecil, Arethas older brother, served at the same church as their father, New Bethel Baptist Church. [116], In 2015, President Barack Obama wrote the following regarding Franklin:.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 40px}.mw-parser-output .templatequote .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;padding-left:1.6em;margin-top:0}, Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the African-American spiritual, the blues, R. & B., rock and rollthe way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope. In 1987, Franklin performed "America the Beautiful" at WWE's Wrestlemania III; one source states that "to this day her WrestleMania III performance might be the most memorable" of the event openers by many artists.[83]. "Genius: Aretha" has delved deep into the Franklin family's dramatic past, including depictions of alleged domestic violence from the musician's ex-husband Ted White and C.L.'s alleged sexual. [122] She quietly and without fanfare supported Indigenous peoples' struggles worldwide, and numerous movements that supported Native American and First Nation cultural rights. [146][147][148][149], Franklin had weight issues for many years. [54][55] Wexler decided that he wanted to take advantage of her gospel background; his philosophy in general was to encourage a "tenacious form of rhythm & blues that became increasingly identified as soul". At Atlantic, Franklin returned to her gospel-blues roots, and the results were sensational. She had pancreatic cancer. "Respect" became her signature song and was later hailed as a civil rights and feminist anthem. [44], In January 1961, Columbia issued Franklin's first album, Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo. Raised without her mother, she was a gospel prodigy who gave birth to two sons in her teens and left them and her native Detroit for New York, where she struggled to find her true voice. According to biographer David Ritz, the father of her oldest son Clarence was believed to be Donald Burke, a boy from school. [12] By the time Aretha turned five, C. L. Franklin had permanently relocated the family to Detroit, where he took over the pastorship of the New Bethel Baptist Church. In March 1969, Franklin was unanimously voted winner of Acadmie du Jazz's R&B award, Prix Otis Redding, for her albums Lady Soul, Aretha Now, and Aretha in Paris. Franklin received numerous honors throughout her career. Franklins Gospel Caravan, that Aretha sometimes sang in. [77][78] Franklin's first Arista album, Aretha (1980), featured the number-three R&B hit "United Together" and her Grammy-nominated cover of Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose". Her first son Clarence was born in 1955. All her children appear to have followed in her musical footsteps in some capacity. [40], She returned to Detroit's Ford Field on Thanksgiving Day 2016 to once again perform the national anthem before the game between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions. He was not punished for his actions, while Mildred Jennings, the 12-year-old, was separated from her baby and sent to live with relatives. Other gospel greats of the dayAlbertina Walker and Jackie Verdellhelped shape young Franklins style. In 1979, C.L. She also was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012. That February, Franklin earned the first two of her Grammys, including the debut category for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You) (1967), recorded at Fame Studios in Florence, Alabama, was her first million-seller. A singer himself, he was noted for his brilliant sermons, many of which were recorded by Chess Records. Suspicion was drawn when the fake Franklin charged only a fraction of the expected rate to perform. Franklin felt the label was not yet established enough, and he turned Gordy down. She first became pregnant at the age of 12, and gave birth to her first child, named Clarence after her father, in 1955. Aretha Franklin's family have denounced a new dramatisation of the singer's life, saying they were not consulted and "do not support" the show. She released a gospel album, The Gospel Sound of Aretha Franklin, in 1956, at age 14. All Aretha Franklin's family is asking is for a little respect from the makers of "Genius: Aretha," National Geographic's recently released biographical series . [167][168] She was under hospice care and surrounded by friends and family. [47] In 1962, Columbia issued two more albums, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin and The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin,[48][49] the latter of which reached number 69 on the Billboard chart. [135] She married actor Glynn Turman, on April 11, 1978, at her father's church. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. [208] The next year, Billboard named her the greatest female R&B artist of all time. However, C.L. Critics recognized her talent, but the public remained lukewarm until 1966, when she switched to Atlantic Records, where producer Jerry Wexler allowed her to sculpt her own musical identity. Alternate titles: Aretha Louise Franklin, Queen of Soul. [43], In November 1966, Franklin's Columbia recording contract expired; at that time, she owed the company money because record sales had not met expectations. In 2010, Franklin accepted an honorary degree from Yale University. [119][120] Franklin and several other American icons declined to take part in performing at President Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration as a mass act of musical protest. Anthony Barboza/Archive Photos/Getty Images, Franklin paid tribute to him and her father. She died of a heart attack in 1952, at the age of 34. [112], According to Richie Unterberger, Franklin was "one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. She then returned to the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills to be close to her ailing father and siblings. Franklin also had an acclaimed guest role as a soul food restaurant proprietor and wife of Matt "Guitar" Murphy in the 1980 comedy musical The Blues Brothers. Aretha was a mother of four sons. [47] Also during that period, she appeared on rock-and-roll shows, such as Hollywood a Go-Go and Shindig! Corrections? By the mid-1960s, Franklin was making $100,000 per year from countless performances in nightclubs and theaters. [70] Originally released in June 1972, Amazing Grace sold more than twomillion copies,[71] and is one of best-selling gospel albums of all time. [84] That recording reached number 26 on the Hot 100 and number five on the R&B chart. [18][28] When Franklin was 12, her father began managing her; he would take her on the road with him, during his "gospel caravan" tours for her to perform in various churches. Surrounded by sympathetic musicians playing spontaneous arrangements and devising the background vocals herself, Franklin refined a style associated with Ray Charlesa rousing mixture of gospel and rhythm and bluesand raised it to new heights. Not much else is known about him, except that he died in 1989 of a heart attack. She first became pregnant at the age of 12 and gave birth to her first child, named Clarence after her father,[123] on January 28, 1955. [61] On February 16, Franklin was honored with a day named for her and was greeted by longtime friend Martin Luther King Jr., who gave her the SCLC Drum Beat Award for Musicians two months before his death. "[104] Franklin later recalled the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors as one of the best nights of her life. [73], Franklin's career began to experience problems while recording the album Hey Now Hey, which featured production from Quincy Jones. [145], Franklin was a Christian and was a registered Democrat. That's why, when she sits down at a piano and sings 'A Natural Woman,' she can move me to tearsthe same way that Ray Charles's version of 'America the Beautiful' will always be in my view the most patriotic piece of music ever performedbecause it captures the fullness of the American experience, the view from the bottom as well as the top, the good and the bad, and the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence. Stevie Wonder, Jesse Jackson and former husband Glynn Turman visited her on her deathbed. adopted (Vaughn didnt learn C.L. [34] [126] Both children took her family name. in 1936; she had a son, Vaughn, from a previous relationship, whom C.L. That evening, after the show had already begun, another performer, opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti became too ill to perform the aria "Nessun dorma" as planned. As a civil-rights-minded nation lent greater support to black urban music, Franklin was crowned the Queen of Soul. Respect, her 1967 cover of Otis Reddings spirited composition, became an anthem operating on personal, sexual, and racial levels. Franklin was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1994, recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 1999, recipient of the American Academy of Achievement's Golden Plate Award presented by Awards Council member Coretta Scott King,[194][195][196] and was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 by then President George W. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged". The song's B-side, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", reached the R&B top 40, peaking at number 37. [1] She had often been described as a great singer and musician due to "vocal flexibility, interpretive intelligence, skillful piano-playing, her ear, her experience". [199] Franklin was the first individual woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation. Franklin's half-brother Vaughn died in late 2002. [113] Franklin's voice was described as being a "powerful mezzo-soprano voice". The show's producers, desperate to fill the time slot, approached Franklin with their dilemma. Despite the success of the single "Angel", the album bombed[citation needed] upon its release in 1973. The documentary Amazing Grace, which chronicles her recording of the 1972 album, premiered in 2018. The album of the same name was released after the single. Her father was a Baptist preacher, while her mother was a gospel singer. 2016. In addition, she received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1994, a National Medal of Arts in 1999, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. [206][207] Asteroid 249516 Aretha was named in her honor in 2014. Franklin's mother, Barbara, was a gospel singer and pianist. She had a particularly close relationship with her father, sisters, and brother. Over 75 million copies of her albums have been sold. Three of her sons Clarence, the oldest, along with Kecalf and Edward were raised together in the. Raising Aretha and marriage breakdown. [136] Her half-sister, Carol Ellan Kelley (ne Jennings; 19402019), is C. L. Franklin's daughter by Mildred Jennings, a 12-year-old member of New Salem Baptist Church in Memphis where C. L. was pastor. [177] Civil rights activist and minister Al Sharpton called her a "civil rights and humanitarian icon". 'Respect' is as precise an artifact as a Ming vase. [130] Her youngest son, Kecalf Cunningham, was born in April 1970 and is the child of her road manager Ken Cunningham.[131]. Experience an unforgettable night of music and memories honouring the legacy of the global superstar Aretha Franklin. But in 1982, with help from singer-songwriter-producer Luther Vandross, she was back on top with a new label, Arista, and a new dance hit, Jump to It, followed by Freeway of Love (1985). Stevie Wonder, Jesse Jackson and former husband Glynn Turman visited her on her deathbed family.! In 1956, at age 14 family name ] upon its release in 1973 preacher, her. 2005 and into the gospel music Hall of Fame in 2005 and the. Her albums have been sold Angeles neighborhood of Encino, where she lived until 1982 from cancer! ] also during that period, she appeared on rock-and-roll shows, such as Hollywood a and... Were sensational congregation when he was noted for his brilliant sermons, many which... Her children appear to have followed in her honor in 2014 precise an artifact as a civil rights humanitarian. The Best nights of her life humanitarian icon '' be Donald Burke, a boy from school called... 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