Aretha Franklin
b. 25 March 1942, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Aretha's music is steeped in the traditions of the church. Her father, C.L. Franklin was a Baptist preacher, famed throughout black America for his fiery sermons and magnetic public appearances. He knew the major gospel stars, Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward, who in turn gave his daughter valuable tutelage. At 12, Aretha was promoted from the choir to become a featured soloist. Two years later she began recording for JVB and Checker. Between 1956 and 1960, her output consisted solely of devotional material but the secular success of Sam Cooke encouraged a change of emphasis. Franklin auditioned for John Hammond, who signed her to Columbia. Sadly, the company was indecisive on how best to showcase her remarkable talent. They tried blues, cocktail jazz, standards, pop songs and contemporary soul hits, each of which wasted the singer's natural improvisational instincts. There were some occasional bright spots; Running Out Of Fools (1964) or Cry Like A Baby (1966), but in both cases content succeeded over style. After a dozen albums a disillusioned Franklin joined Atlantic in 1966 where the magnificent I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You) declared her liberation. All these songs were recorded at Muscle Shoals and the houseband's contribution was suitably sparse while Aretha simply wailed ecstatically. The single soared into the US Top 10 and, coupled with the expressive Do Right Woman – Do Right Man, it announced the arrival of a major artist. The releases which followed—Respect, Baby I Love You, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Chain Of Fools and (Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone—confirmed her authority and claim to being the Queen Of Soul. The conditions and atmosphere created by Jerry Wexler and the outstanding musicians gave Franklin such confidence that her voice gained amazing power and control. 
Despite Franklin's professional success, her personal life grew confused. Her relationship with husband and manager Ted White disintegrated and while excellent singles like Think still appeared, others betrayed a discernible lethargy. She followed Think with the sublime I Say A Little Prayer giving power and authority to simple yet delightful lyrics; ‘the moment I wake up, as I put on my make-up, I say a little prayer for you’. Written by Bacharach and David, but crafted for Aretha, it remains one of the greatest working class lyrics of all time. The subject catches a bus to work, she has a coffee break it; deals with simple values and has stood the test of time. Following a slight dip in her fortunes during the late '60s, she had regained her powers in 1970 as Call Me, Spirit In The Dark and Don't Play That Song ably testified. An album, ARETHA ALIVE AT THE FILLMORE WEST (1971), meanwhile restated her in-concert power. The following year another live appearance resulted in AMAZING GRACE, a double gospel set recorded with James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir. Its passion encapsulated her career to date. Franklin continued to record strong material throughout the early '70s and enjoyed three R&B chart-toppers, Angel, Until You Come Back To Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do) and I'm In Love. Sadly, the rest of the decade was marred by recordings which were at best predictable, at worst dull. Her cameo role in the film The Blues Brothers, however, rekindled her flagging career. Aretha moved to Arista in 1980 and she immediately regained a commercial momentum with United Together and two confident albums, ARETHA and LOVE ALL THE HURT AWAY. Jump To It and Get It Right, both written and produced by Luther Vandross, and WHO'S ZOOMIN' WHO? (1985), continued her rejuvenation. From the album, produced by Narada Michael Walden, Franklin had hit singles with Freeway Of Love, Another Night, and the title track. In the late/mid '80s, she made the charts again, in company with Annie Lennox (Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves) and George Michael (I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)), which went to number 1 in the the US and UK in 1987. Franklin's THROUGH THE STORM (1989), contained more powerful duets, this time with Elton John on the title track, James Brown (Gimme Some Lovin', remixed by Prince for 12-inch), and Whitney Houston (It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be). The album also included a remake of her 1968 US Top 10 title, I Think. In 1991, her WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU SWEAT, was criticized for its cornucopia of different styles: a couple of tracks by Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager; a collaboration with Luther Vandross; a fairly thin title ballad; and the highlight, Everyday People, a mainstream disco number, written by Sly Stone and brilliantly produced by Narada Michael Walden. Aretha Franklin may now lack the instinct of her classic Atlantic recordings, but as her ‘return to gospel’ ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM (1987) proved, she is still a commanding singer. Franklin possesses an astonishing voice that has often been wasted on poor choice of material. She is rightfully heralded as the Queen of soul, even though that reputation was gained in the '60s, despite a rare return to the British Top 10 with A Deeper Love in February 1994. A 4 CD box set of her Atlantic recordings confirmed her position as one of the world's greatest voices.