Aretha Franklin was the queen of soul, and her talents knew few limits. No matter what
life threw at her, she stayed strong and never apologized. This is the heartbreaking true
story of Aretha Franklin.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee on March 25, 1942 to Barbara Siggers and Reverend C.L. Franklin,
Aretha Louise Franklin and her family moved to Buffalo, New York briefly before settling
down in Detroit, Michigan. Her father had become a Baptist circuit preacher by the age
of 18, and in Detroit, he worked as a minister at New Bethel Baptist Church.
Franklin's family in Detroit initially consisted of her parents, two sisters, a brother, and
a half-brother on her mother's side. But after just a few years in Detroit, Siggers ended
her relationship with Franklin's father and moved back to Buffalo. Despite the breakup
of her parents' marriage, Franklin continued to see her mother during the summers, and
Siggers often visited the children in Detroit.
However, even though Franklin expressed an interest in living with her mother, her father
made it clear that that wasn't an option. Tragically, in 1952, Siggers died of a heart
attack when Franklin was just 10 years old.
Both of Aretha Franklin's parents were talented gospel singers, and Franklin's mother was
also a skilled pianist. Her parents' devotion to music gave Franklin an early entrance into
the world of gospel singing. And due to her father's role in the church, Franklin joined
the choir when she was just a toddler.
According to Rolling Stone, Aretha, along with her two sisters Erma and Carolyn, had
significant musical talents. However, when a piano teacher was hired for Franklin, she
hid from the teacher. Later in her life, Franklin would write,
"[Learning how to play by ear] allowed me to develop a rather personal and signature
style, which I treasure and would not give up for anything or anyone."
"I didn't study, I play by ear. I don't read music at all."
Rev. C.L. Franklin also exposed his daughter to a variety of music figures including Smokey
Robinson, Clara Ward, and Sam Cooke. In David Ritz's biography on Franklin, titled Respect,
Smokey Robinson recalls meeting Aretha as a young child:
"When Aretha sat down, even as a seven-year-old, she started playing chords — big chords.
[...] all I could do was view Aretha as a wonder child."
In 1956, at the age of 14, Aretha Franklin released Songs of Faith: Aretha Gospel, her
very first album. At the same time, Franklin already had a 2-year-old child, Clarence,
and in January 1957, she had her second child, Edward. Although she had to drop out of school,
Franklin maintains that her family supported her in every way.
Encouraging her to pursue her musical career, her sister Erma and her grandmother Rachel
helped with raising the children while Franklin was working. And as her father started a gospel
caravan, which soon became widely successful, Franklin began touring the country with her
father in addition to singing solos in New Bethel.
At one point, Aretha Franklin was introduced to Phil Moore, an arranger and jazz pianist.
After playing just a handful of songs, Moore turned to Franklin's father and said,
"[Aretha] does not require my services. Her style has already been developed. Her style
is in place. It is a unique style that, in my professional opinion, requires no alteration."
Emboldened by this, Franklin's father decided that they should try to get Franklin a spot
with Columbia Records, and the meeting with producer John Hammond didn't take long. He
signed her immediately, declaring that Franklin was, quote, "an untutored genius," and the
best voice he heard since Billie Holiday. Franklin signed on to a six-year contract,
during which time she recorded ten different albums. Her first album with Columbia Records,
Aretha: With the Ray Bryant Combo, came out when Franklin was 18 years old.
When Aretha Franklin was 18, she met 29-year-old Theodore "Ted" White, and by the next year,
they were married. They had a child together, and White also worked as Franklin's manager.
But White sometimes ended up doing more harm than good to Franklin's work.
One incident occurred in August 1967. Franklin was supposed to perform as the headliner for
the SCLC at the Atlanta Hyatt Regency, but was banned from the hotel only a week earlier
after she and Ted got into a physical altercation. Undeterred, Franklin snuck in and ended up
singing for two hours.
Although the only people who know the exact details of their relationship are Franklin
and White, there's significant evidence to support the idea that he was abusive towards
her, including the incident at the Atlanta Hyatt. And according to Jet, when Franklin
and White were already divorced in 1970, White was investigated for shooting Charles Cooke,
Sam Cooke's brother who was a guest at Franklin's home, in the groin.
Despite making numerous albums with Columbia Records, Franklin felt as if none of the records
she recorded reflected her true self. So when her contract with Columbia expired, Franklin
linked up with producer Jerry Wexler and signed with Atlantic Records in 1966. However, working
with Atlantic Records had a rough start.
According to Song Facts, "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" is the only song
Franklin recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama at the FAME Studios. However, the recording
session had to be cut short when her husband Ted White got into a fight with the trumpet
player. There are various accounts as to what happened.
According to Rolling Stone, White claimed that the trumpeter was using, quote, "racist
terms." David Hood, who was playing trombone during the incident, claimed that the trumpet
player was making remarks to Aretha that were, quote, "cool and hip and all that." As detailed
in the Rolling Stone piece, Franklin and White were put off by the trumpet player's familiarity.
Some in the studio, White included, had been drinking during the session, and the confrontation
escalated into a fist fight. Later that night, White also got into a fist fight with producer
Rick Hall, who had tried to mediate the situation. Franklin disappeared after that night, but
one month later she arrived in New York City ready to finish recording. The Muscle Shoals
musicians traveled up to record with her. Franklin would repeat the same process for
her next three albums, with the band members traveling up from Alabama each time to play
with her.
"So absolutely it was a milestone and the turning point in my career."
On Feb. 14, 1967, Aretha Franklin recorded "Respect," which dwarfed Otis Redding's version
almost overnight. According to Rolling Stone, Franklin recreated the song from a plea into
a demand. In remarking on the song's impact, the publication had this to say:
"In Franklin's voice, 'Respect' was no longer a man's petition; it was something of a threat
that switched gender tables. It was something wholly new. When Wexler played the new version
for Redding, he said, 'I just lost my song.'"
"Respect" was released during the long hot summer of 1967, when protests against racial
inequality swept across the United States. Although Franklin has said that she didn't
sing the song with politics in mind, she was moved when it naturally became, quote, "a
battle cry and anthem for a nation."
On June 28, 1968, Aretha Franklin was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine with the tagline,
"The Sound of Soul," becoming only the second Black woman to be on the cover of the publication.
However, according to Rolling Stone, Franklin was less than pleased with the inside article's
representation of her. Although the piece recognized her talent, Franklin didn't like
how it focused on her personal life and marriage.
Despite this, Franklin pushed ahead, and many consider her time at Atlantic from 1967 to
1972 to be her "golden era." During this time, Franklin was also battling alcoholism, but
she continued to record numerous hits. By the end of the 1970s, Franklin had won ten
Grammys.
Aretha Franklin was surrounded by activism from a very young age and was always a very
socially conscious artist. She toured with Martin Luther King, Jr., and along with Harry
Belafonte, doing concerts and fundraisers for Rev. Jesse Jackson.
And in 1970, she even offered to pay Angela Davis' bail after she was arrested for her
supposed involvement in a courtroom shootout. Franklin stated that she would pay for Davis's
bail whether the amount was $100,000 or $250,000. In a 1970 interview with Jet, Franklin explained
why she wanted to help Davis's cause:
"I'm going to see her free if there is any justice in our courts, not because I believe
in communism, but because she's a Black woman and she wants freedom for Black people. I
have the money; I got it from Black people [...] and I want to use it in ways that will
help our people."
During the 1970s, Aretha Franklin also started experiencing severe spells of depression.
At one point, it got so bad that her family felt like they had no choice but to take her
to the hospital. But Franklin wasn't happy when the media got wind of this incident,
and she ended up pressuring Jet magazine to run an article that would portray her positively.
According to Jet, Franklin held a press conference where she claimed that her hospitalization
was caused by "acute physical exhaustion" due to her heavy schedule. However, Atlantic's
Jerry Wexler claimed in Vanity Fair that Franklin frequently experienced depressive fogs that
left her unable to do anything unless she really had to. Wexler told Vanity Fair,
"I remember going to sit with her at the Drake hotel and holding her hand and begging her
to come to the studio because we had a room full of musicians. And finally she came in
and did it. [...] Once you were there, it was beautiful."
In 1980, Aretha Franklin signed with Arista Records and ended up staying with them for
27 years. There, she recorded "Jump to It," which became her first Top 40 hit in years.
Franklin recorded numerous more hits during the 1980s, and in 1987, her album One Lord,
One Faith, One Baptism won the Grammy for Best Soul Gospel Performance. That same year,
Franklin made history by becoming the very first woman to be inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame.
During her entire career, Franklin recorded 58 albums and released 17 top-10 singles,
the latter being more than any other female singer in pop history. Franklin also won 18
Grammys, as well as three special Grammy Awards.
It was also during this period that Franklin developed a serious fear of flying. During
a trip from Atlanta to Detroit, the flight experienced such severe turbulence that Franklin
never flew again.
"I'm flying down the highway in my custom… in my custom bus, okay?"
Aretha Franklin remained a force to be reckoned with as the 20th century drew to a close.
In addition to writing her autobiography, Aretha: From These Roots, she performed at
President Bill Clinton's inaugural gala in 1993. Ten years later, President George W.
Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
However, during the last decade of her life, Franklin suffered from health problems that
were later revealed to be caused by pancreatic cancer. She also struggled against society's
obsession with weight, and during her illness there was frequent speculation on her weight
loss, which she said fluctuated due to her medication. But despite her failing health,
Franklin was competitive and creative to the end. According to Rolling Stone,
"[Aretha] was always listening to the radio and wanting to know what the kids were listening
to, who was on the rise and who was on the decline. It kept her going."
Although Franklin kept scheduling performances, they often ended up being called off, and
in 2017, she announced that she was going to be retiring from touring, although she
intended to keep recording. Her final performance was on Nov. 7, 2017.
On Aug. 16, 2018, Franklin passed away from advanced pancreatic cancer - but her legacy
will live on forever.
If you or someone you know is struggling with domestic abuse, please call or chat online
with the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.