Aretha Franklin — Where to Listen on the Radio

Aretha Louise Franklin ( ə-REE-thə; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Regarded as the "Queen of Soul", she was twice named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest singer of all time.

As a child Franklin was noticed for her gospel singing at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was a minister. At the age of 18 she was signed as a recording artist for Columbia Records. Whilst her career did not immediately flourish, Franklin found acclaim and commercial success once she had signed with Atlantic Records in 1966. There she recorded significant hit albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul and Aretha Now in the late 1960s and Young, Gifted and Black, Amazing Grace and Sparkle in the 1970s, before experiencing problems with the record company. Franklin left Atlantic in 1979 and signed with Arista Records, where her career was revived with the hit albums Jump to It, Who's Zoomin' Who?, Aretha and A Rose Is Still a Rose.

Franklin is one of the best-selling music artists, with more than 75 million records sold worldwide. She had 112 singles on the US Billboard charts, including 73 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 96 R&B entries and 20 number-one R&B singles. Although her rendition of Respect has been referred to as her signature song, Franklin is known for other hit singles such as (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Chain of Fools, Think, I Say a Little…