The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, has passed away aged 76.
The singer passed Thursday at her home in Detroit, Michigan surrounded by family following a battle with advanced pancreatic cancer after reports she was “gravely ill” this week.
Franklin previously battled a bout of ill health in 2010, when she secretly underwent surgery to remove a tumour, but her efforts to keep the news private prompted premature death reports in 2011, following claims she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
The soul legend began her career in the early 1960s, when she achieved modest success with Columbia Records, before signing to Atlantic Records in 1967 and finding fame with songs including civil rights anthem Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, I Say A Little Prayer, and Think, and albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul, Young, Gifted and Black and Amazing Grace.
Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade—our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect. May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace. -Twitter/Barrack Obama
Over the course of her career, she released a total of 112 singles which landed on America’s Billboard chart, including 77 Hot 100 entries, and twenty number-one R&B singles, making her the most-charted female artist in the chart’s history at the time.
Franklin was one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, and has won 20 Grammys in throughout her career, including three special honours – the Legend Award in 1991, the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994, and the MusiCares Person of the Year in 2008.
She also made history by becoming the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and has also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Source: WENN
Image: Getty
Written by Ally Parker
