Aretha Franklin Brought Respect To All Female Artists
Aretha Franklin’s powerful voice and demanding style has impacted women singers and performers world wide. With a confident voice and blues like style, there is nothing this lady can’t pull off.
Her single, “Respect,” (1967) is probably one of the most referred to, popular, and played rhythm and blues, pop song ever recorded.
Born in Memphis in 1942, Aretha Franklin’s stylistic sound and influence from Billie Holliday and gospel earned her a recording career with Columbia Records. Influenced strongly by Dinah Washington, she continued jazz pop recordings with Atlantic Records and was dubbed “The Queen of Soul.”
Other major hits include, “Until You Come Back to Me” and “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.”
Aretha Franklin was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was the second African American woman to be on the cover of Time magazine in 1968. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in music from Harvard in 2010 and was the subject of the Grammy Awards tribute in 2011.
She recently recorded, despite many health problems with Tony Bennett on his “Duets, II” album.
Ms. Franklin has had a long, hard, successful career and influenced many women singers.