50 things you may not know about Aretha Franklin

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Legendary Queen of Soul music, Aretha Franklin ruled the global musical scene for about 50 years selling 75 million copies of her records. She had a net worth of $80m in her time.

Born 25th March 1942 in Memphis Tennessee, USA, she began singing in her home Baptist church before going secular. She enjoyed decades of success before leaving the public glare. She passed on August 2018 and was buried 31st August while the entire global music family still miss her.

Franklin’s influence lasted over 50 years, below are 50 things you may not know about the late Queen of Soul.

  • She was born Aretha Louise Franklin March 25, 1942 to Barbara (nee Siggers) and Clearance LaVaughn at 406 Lucy Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.

 

  • She lost her mother at age 10.

 

 

  • She played the piano.

 

  • She started singing at the New Bethel Baptist Church Detroit, Michigan where her father was a minister.
  • At age 18, she embarked on a secular career recording for Columbia Records.

 

  • In 1966 she found commercial success and acclaim after signing with Atlanta Records.

 

 

 

  • She was a human rights activist who invested her time in the emancipation of women and African Americans.

 

 

  • She earned the title ‘The Queen of Soul’ at the end of 1960s.

 

  • She recorded 112 charted singles on Billboard including 77 Hot entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B, and 20 number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in history.

 

 

  • She won 18 Grammy Awards including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance from 1968 through to 1975.

 

  • She sold over 75 million records across the world to become one of the best-selling musical artists of all time.

 

 

  • She was the first female to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 among numerous awards.

 

  • She also got the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

 

 

  • She was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

 

  • Her mother was an accomplished piano player and vocalist.

 

  • Her parents had a troubled marriage and they separated in 1948. Aretha’s mother died of a heart attackon March 7, 1952.

 

  • She attended public school in Detroit, going through her freshman year at Northern High School, but dropping out during her sophomore year.

 

 

  • Just after her mother’s death, Franklin began singing solos at New Bethel, debuting with the hymn, “Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me”.

 

  • Her father began managing her at 12. He also her sign her first recording deal with J.V.B. Records.

 

 

  • In 1956, J-V-B released Franklin’s first single, “Never Grow Old”, backed with “You Grow Closer”. “Precious Lord (Part One)” backed with “Precious Lord (Part Two)” followed in 1959. Franklin’s debut Atlantic album, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

 

  1. In 2010, Franklin accepted an honorary degree from Yale University.
  2. Franklin released the album A Brand New Mein November 2017 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which uses archived recordings from Franklin. It peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Top Classical Albums chart before her death and rose to number 2 after her death.
  3. Her songs “Respect” and “Natural Woman” became anthems of movements for social justice and change.

 

  1. Franklin was a strong supporter for Native Americanrights.

 

  1. Following an incident in 1984, she cited a fear of flying that prevented her from traveling overseas; she performed only in North America afterwards.

 

  1. She first became pregnant at the age of 12 and gave birth to her first child, named Clarence after her father, on January 28, 1955. According to the news site Inquisitr, “The father of the child was Donald Burk, a boy she knew from school”.

 

  • On January 22, 1957, then aged 14, Franklin had a second child, named Edward after his father Edward Jordan. Franklin did not like to discuss her early pregnancies with interviewers. Both children took her family name.

 

  • Franklin’s third child, Ted White Jr., was born in February 1964 and is known professionally as Teddy Richards. He has provided guitar backing for his mother’s band during live concerts.

 

  • Her youngest son, Kecalf Cunningham, was born in 1970 and is the child of her road manager Ken Cunningham.

 

  • Franklin was married twice. Her first husband was Theodore “Ted” White, whom she married in 1961 at age 19.

 

  • After a contentious marriage that involved domestic violence, Franklin separated from White in 1968, divorcing him in 1969.

 

  • Franklin married her second husband, actor Glynn Turman, on April 11, 1978 at her father’s church becoming stepmother of Turman’s three children from a previous marriage.

 

  • Franklin and Turman separated in 1982 after Franklin returned to Michigan from California, and they divorced in 1984.

 

  • Following Franklin’s divorce from Ted White, her brother Cecil became her manager, and maintained that position until his death from lung cancer on December 26, 1989.

 

  • Sister Carolyn died the previous year in April 1988 from breast cancer, while eldest sister Erma died from throat cancer in September 2002. Franklin’s half-brother Vaughn died two months after Erma in late 2002.

 

  • Franklin was performing at the Aladdin Hotelin Las Vegas, on June 10, 1979, when her father, C. L., was shot twice at point blank range in his Detroit home.

 

  • After six months at Henry Ford Hospital, still in a state of coma, C.L. was moved back to his home with 24-hour nursing care. Aretha moved back to Detroit in late 1982 to assist with the care of her father, who died at Detroit’s New Light Nursing Home on July 27, 1984.

 

  • She was Whitney Houston’s honourary aunt.

 

 

  • She was a former chain smoker who struggled with alcoholism but quit smoking in 1992.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • On August 13, 2018, Franklin was reported to be gravely ill at her home in Riverfront Towers, Detroit.

 

 

 

  • A memorial service was held at New Bethel Baptist Church on August 19.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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