Aretha Franklin (full name Aretha Louise Franklin) was born on March 25, 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She is one of the greatest voices America has had, a pianist, songwriter, a wonderful lady who received the name of "The Queen Of Soul".
Biography and Career :
She was born to Clarence L. Franklin and Barbara Siggers. Her father was shot in 1984 in a burglary.
In 1956 she recorded "The Gospel Soul of Aretha Franklin" and this is how her career started.
After four years she signed a contract with Columbia Records.
She started releasing songs and albums and having success. Her albums were selling great, she entered the charts and soon became a famous singer.
The genre she is singing are soul, R&B, gospel, jazz, pop and rock.
She has won many awards during her
entire career and famous artists performed along her.
She is a legend for America and there's no one on this planet who didn’t hear about her.
In the Billboard Hot 100 she was number one several times and only two artists besides her have placed a single on every charted position of the Billboard top ten pop singles chart.
25 years were spent in Detroit, the place that she likes to call her adopted hometown.
Between 1962 and 1969 she was married to Ted White. The couple has one child.
On the 11th of April 1978 she married Glynn Turman, but in 1984 they divorced.
During the years she has won 15 Grammy Awards, the Grammy Legend Award and the Kennedy Center Honor.
She has four children, in fact four sons because all of them are boys: Clarence Jr., Edward, Ted White Jr. and Kecalf.
In 2005 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush and in 1999 the American National Medal of the Arts.
Trivia :
- Height: 165 cm
- She is on the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and was the first woman who has ever achieved that.
- She was only fourteen when she gave birth for the first time.
- She is part of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
- In VH1's Greatest Women of Rock N Roll list she was on the first position.
Filmography:
- An Evening of Stars: Tribute to Aretha Franklin (2007) (TV)
- Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
- Saturday Night Live (1 episode, 1994)
- The Blues Brothers (1980)
- Room 222 (1 episode, 1972).
Quotes :
- "I'm the lady next door when I'm not on stage."
- "I'm a big woman. I need big hair."
Aretha Franklin Image Source : davehill.typepad.com
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