ARETHA
The Life and Career of The Queen of Soul
o call Aretha Franklin one of the supreme singers of all time feels like an understatement. For most of her life, she wasn’t simply the owner of one of music’s most recognizable and beloved voices but a towering cultural presence. She came to
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Aretha's Early Years
Robert Christgau on Aretha, the Genius Behind a Voice Unlike Any Other
By Robert Christgau
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It was her voice that made all the difference. That voice was bred from gospel, blues, and jazz
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By Natalie Weiner
How Aretha Franklin’s Jazz Beginnings Predicted Her Genre-Transcending Career
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The daughter of a preacher man, Franklin came up in the world of gospel music. But her destiny lay in taking the church onto the charts. After tentative steps into pop with Columbia Records, Franklin signed with Atlantic in 1967. The combination of her mighty voice with producer Jerry Wexler, effortlessly soulful studio players, and indelible songs like “Respect,” “Chain of Fools,” and “Think,” made for some of the most titanic music of the Sixties — and made Franklin a symbol of empowerment for women and black America alike. These three albums are among her finest.
1960s
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Franklin used the blues as a way of working through hurts, of singing through pain… Nowhere else in Franklin’s music did she accomplish this more effectively than in her next single, "Respect"
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By Jon Dolan
Aretha’s Greatest Albums:
‘I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You’ (1967)
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By Will Hermes
Aretha’s Greatest Albums: ‘Lady Soul’ (1968)
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By Kory Grow
Aretha’s Greatest Albums: ‘Aretha Now’ (1968)
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At the dawn of the Seventies, Franklin could have rested on her considerable laurels. But there was clearly so much more she wanted to accomplish, and the first half of that decade found her smashing through even more barriers. She became the first R&B act to headline the rock-friendly Fillmore West in San Francisco, recorded a double-LP gospel collection that became the bestselling album of that genre (check out the Amazing Grace documentary as well), and scored a soundtrack (for 1976’s Sparkle). At decade’s end, she also filmed a cameo from The Blues Brothers movie (released in 1980).
1970s
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By Elias Leight
Aretha’s Greatest Albums: ‘Hey Now Hey’ (1973)
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By Patrick Doyle
Aretha’s Greatest Albums: ‘Amazing Grace’ (1972)
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By Simon Vozick-Levinson
Aretha’s Greatest Albums: ‘Aretha Live at Fillmore West’ (1971)
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1973
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By Rob Sheffield
Why Nobody Sang the Beatles Like Aretha
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Franklin herself was saying she wanted respect as a self-determining artist and as a woman
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By Chris Hodenfield
Baby, I Know: Reassessing Aretha
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fame during the early years of the civil rights movement, embodying the challenges, strength, and accomplishments of African Americans, and she was unafraid to tackle nearly any genre of music, be it soul, gospel, disco or opera. In this special tribute, Rolling Stone writers from across the decades talk with Franklin, document her heyday and last days, delve into her most enduring work, and assess the lasting impact of the Queen of Soul.
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By Christopher R. Weingarten
Aretha’s Greatest Albums: ‘Who’s Zoomin’ Who?’ (1985)
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By Rob Sheffield
Aretha’s Greatest Albums: ‘Jump To It’ (1982)
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By David Browne
Aretha’s Greatest Albums: ‘Love All the Hurt Away’ (1981)
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1980s
During the Reagan era, many of Franklin’s peers from the Sixties struggled to keep up with the MTV times. But in another sign of the ways in which she transcended genres and epochs, Aretha rebooted herself for the dance-music era, first working with the likes of Luther Vandross and Michael Jackson collaborator Rod Temperton to make convincing disco and pop-soul tracks. But it was 1985’s blockbuster Who’s Zoomin’ Who — boosted by “Freeway of Love” and her “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” Eurhythmics collaboration — that announced to a new generation that Franklin was forever.
During the last decade of her life, Franklin struggled with health issues, especially pancreatic cancer. But her fortitude never waned. She stayed relevant by working with Lauryn Hill and reuniting with former boss Clive Davis for a covers album. Right to the end, she was planning a new record and mapping out her involvement in a biopic that would star Jennifer Hudson as Aretha. As she told Patrick Doyle in her final interview with Rolling Stone, in 2014, “I find new ways to just keep it fresh for me. I still don’t think I would do anything else. I guess I could’ve been a prima ballerina. Or a nurse. Aretha Nightingale!”
ARETHA'S LATER YEARS
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By Brittany Spanos
Aretha’s Greatest Albums: ‘Aretha Sings the Great Diva Classics’ (2014)
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Whatever went on in Franklin’s voice was a strange alchemy of hurt and persistence
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By Rolling Stone Editors
The 50 Greatest Aretha Franklin Songs
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Best of Aretha
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By Mikal Gilmore
The Queen: Aretha Franklin 1942 - 2018
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By David Browne
Inside Aretha Franklin’s Final Years
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Her Later Years
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By Patrick Doyle
Aretha Franklin on Beyonce, Women’s Rights, the Future: Her Last Rolling Stone Interview
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