Aretha Franklin: The Queen Of Soul, The Queen Of Jazz,

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Nikki Spencer Mr. Robinson English 9 PIB 3 May 2001 Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul, The Queen of Jazz, The Queen of R-E-S-P-E-C-T "The most powerful singer alive"� says Time Magazine. ("Aretha Franklin: News and Reviews"�) That basically sums up my whole paper. Aretha Franklin IS the Queen of Soul. From ages the king of RocknRoll may change, or the queen of jazz, or the king of pop, but Aretha Franklin is and always will be the Queen of Soul.

Aretha Franklin was born on March 25, 1942 in the city of Memphis Tennessee. She is the fourth of five children with two brothers and two sisters. In 1944 her family moved to Detroit where her father, the famous Rev. C.L. Franklin becomes pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church, a church containing 4500 seats. (Sheafer) At this church Aretha was in the choir and in 1954, when she was twelve years old, stood on the small church pedestal and blew the congregation away with her first solo.

(Franklin and Ritz) Six years later she signs with Columbia Records. Columbia however fails to make her a star so she switches to Atlantic Records where the hits start coming. In 1961 she marries Ted White and has her third son. (Sheafer) Aretha says the person with the greatest impact on her life is her father. The way he combines preaching with music really impresses her. Her father, being such a famous preacher, was a close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Aretha always sang for him because he found her voice to be "a delight"�. At his funeral Aretha amazed the guests by singing "Precious Lord"�, one of his personal favorites. She also astounded guests by singing at Bill Clinton's inauguration, the funeral of Mahalia Jackson and at Jimmy...