Aretha Franklin

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture, Jan 29, 2002 by Willie Collins

As the career of singer, songwriter, and pianist Aretha Franklin makes evident, the black church--its ministers, its members, and its music--have had a profound influence on popular music. A fruit of the black Baptist church, Franklin is one of the most important female artists to translate gospel music--with all its intensity--into soul music. Her talent was nurtured by a who's who of gospel song--Clara Ward, James Cleveland, and Mahalia Jackson--and her father, Reverend C. L. Franklin, was a gospel singer in his own right. For the past thirty years, Franklin has reigned as the "Queen of Soul," winning more Grammy Awards than any other female vocalist--at least one a year from 1967 through 1974 and then in 1981, 1985, and 1987. From 1960 to 1992, 89 of her songs were in the pop or R&B Top Forty, with twenty of them reaching number one on the R&B chart. Franklin was the first African-American woman to appear on the cover of Time magazine (in June, 1968), and in 1987 she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. By the mid-1980s, Franklin had racked up a total of twenty-four gold records. The state of Michigan has designated her voice as a natural resource.

The eldest of three sisters, Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on March 25, 1942. During her childhood, her family moved to Buffalo and then to Detroit, where she grew up. Her father, the celebrated Reverend C. L. Franklin, ministered the 4,500 member New Bethel Baptist Church. Rev. Franklin was one of the first ministers to have a nationally broadcast radio program, and at one time he earned up to $4000 per sermon. His eldest daughter taught herself to play the piano at the age of eight. Her father's national stature and influence drew such well-known gospel singers as James Cleveland, Mahalia Jackson, and Clara Ward to their home for improvisational praise sessions. Two of the Clara Ward Singers helped rear Aretha after her mother's separation from the family. Franklin absorbed the rich black musical experience in her father's church and by the age of twelve began touring with him, singing solos.

Her recording career began in 1951 when she and her sisters Carolyn and Erma made a 78, singing behind their father on the Gotham label. In 1956, Franklin recorded the hymn "Where We'll Never Grow Old," profoundly influenced by her mentor, Clara Ward. Following the path of one of her idols, Sam Cooke, who had made a successful transition from gospel to pop, at the age of eighteen Franklin left Detroit for New York, where Major Holley, a bass player for jazz pianist Teddy Wilson, helped look after her while she made the rounds in an attempt to be discovered. John Hammond, the legendary impresario who had encouraged Columbia Records to sign Mahalia Jackson, among other talents, heard Franklin and encouraged the company to sign her. While with Columbia, Franklin released a number of recordings: "Today I Sing the Blues" and "Won't Be Long" were moderately successful R&B hits.

After her contract expired with Columbia, Franklin signed with Atlantic Records in 1967. With the savvy producing skills of Jerry Wexler, Franklin recorded "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" with the Muscle Shoals, Alabama, rhythm section, her own piano accompaniment, and the backup vocals of her sisters. The single and the album of the same title achieved gold status, and Aretha had arrived. A string of gold records followed, including "Respect," her first single to top both the R&B and Pop Charts. The album also included such popular hits as "Dr. Feelgood," "Baby, I Love You," "Chain of Fools," and "Since You've Been Gone." Her next hit songs, "Think" and "I Say a Little Prayer," went gold, along with her Lady Soul album in 1968. In 1969, "See Saw" and the album Aretha Now similarly attained gold status. "Don't Play that Song" in 1970 and her 1971 version of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" also were hits. In 1972, she won two Grammys for the albums Young, Gifted, and Black and Amazing Grace. In 1973, Franklin scored again with "Master of Eyes" and in 1974 with "Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing."

The mid- to late-1970s saw a dry spell in Franklin's creative hitmaking. Disco had begun to gain favor, adversely impacting the sale and popularity of soul and R&B. In 1980, Franklin signed with Arista Records, and by 1982 she had made a successful comeback with the album Jump on It. In 1985, the Who's Zooming Who album, with the hit "Freeway of Love," went gold. But in 1987, Franklin returned to her roots with the album One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, her first gospel collection in fifteen years. A duet with George Michael entitled "I Knew You Were Waiting" became her second number one Pop hit.

Franklin's relentless productivity, diverse repertoire, and sheer volume of recordings make a simplified overview of her style difficult. To be sure, if one were to distill her style, it would boil down to her rhythmic gospel piano style and arrangements that accompany her voice with all its ecstatic tension. Beginning with her recording for Atlantic, Aretha Franklin essentially defined soul music as vital, genuine, sexual, and visceral, reflecting the struggles and triumphs of the human spirit. "It is her fierce, gritty conviction.... She flexes her rich, cutting voice like a whip; she lashes her listeners--in her words--to the bone,' for deepness," Time magazine observed. All in all, it has been Franklin's faith and "hard knocks" that enabled her to embrace a song, dramatizing it and making it her own.