Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, musician as well as an actress, but universally considered to be “The Queen of Soul”. Aretha rose to prominence in 1968, when she released two commercially profitable albums, namely “Lady Soul” in January which upon its release became a huge success in the US, topping the Billboard Pop Albums, Jazz Albums and Black Albums charts, and followed by “Aretha Now” . In addition to spawning such singles as “Chain of Fools” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, “Lady Soul” was included in the list of “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, compiled by “Rolling Stone” magazine, and is also considered to be among the greatest albums as featured on the VH1 network. “Aretha Now” was her fifteenth studio album, released in June of 1968, and featuring such popular singles as “I Say a Little Prayer” and “Think/You Send Me”, “Aretha Now” peaked at #5 on the Billboard chart and since its release has been given a gold certification from the RIAA. Aretha Franklin released 112 singles that have made it to the Billboard music charts, and sold more than 75 million albums around the world. Franklin’s contributions to the music industry have been acknowledged with 18 Grammy Awards, as well as an induction into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and UK Music Hall of Fame. Aretha Franklin passed away in 2018.
A famous singer and musician, how rich was Aretha Franklin? Authoritative sources estimate that Aretha’s net worth was over $60 million, undoubtedly accumulated mostly due to her singing career over more than five decades.
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Aretha Franklin Net Worth $60 Million
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Aretha Franklin was born on 25 March 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, to C. L. Franklin, a Baptist preacher known as “the man with the million-dollar voice”, and singer Barbara Siggers. Aretha Franklin’s professional career began at the age of 14, when she started performing at various churches under her father’s management. When she was 18 years old, Franklin attracted the attention of the well-known “Columbia Records” label, with which she released her first single entitled “Today I Sing the Blues”, which featured in the R&B chart. Shortly afterwards, Franklin made her studio album debut with “Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo”, which was released in 1961 and well-received by critics, despite the fact that her label could not attribute her to any particular music style. Aretha Franklin reached commercial success several years later, when she released a single called “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” in 1967 from the album of the same name, and which topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B Singles charts, and since then has featured in such films as “This Christmas” with Loretta Devine, Idris Elba and Chris Brown, and “The Commitments” directed by Alan Parker, and “The Blues Brothers” in 1980, with John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd, then a reprised version in 1998.
Aretha’s career stretched almost unbroken for over 50 years, during which she released almost the same number of studio albums, seven ‘live’ albums, 52 compilations, and more than 20 collaborations. Over 20 of her singles reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts, from an authorititively estimated 88 releases overall. Although holding concerts only in the US after 1984, as a fear of flying restricted her travelling, her truly remarkable career was crowned by her acknowledged title worldwide as ‘the Queen of Soul’, stemming from her roots in gospel, passing through ‘pop’ and rock ‘n’ roll – she was the first woman inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 – and culminating with her various stand-out performances, and appearances over the years at such events as Martin Luther King’s funeral in 1968, and the ordinations of President Jimmy Carter in 1976, and President Barack Obama in 2009.
Aside from innumerable music awards, Aretha was also honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as early as 1979, an honorary degree from Harvard University (2014), and honorary doctorates in music from the Universities of Michigan, Princeton, Yale , Brown and Pennsylvania, the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music. Additionally, she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Wayne State University, and an honorary Doctor of Law from Bethune–Cookman University.
In her less-than-private personal life, Aretha Franklin was married twice, firstly to “Ted” White in 1961 – with whom she had a son who later became one of her backing group – but divorcing in 1969 amid accusations of domestic violence. She then married Glyn Turman (1978-84). However, she had three other children, the first at aged 12 and the second at 14, who were raised largely by her grandmother and sister while Aretha developed her career. Her fourth son was fathered by Ken Cunningham, her road manager, in 1970.
Having been raised in Detroit, and then living in New York and Los Angeles, Aretha eventually returned permanently to Detroit in the early 1980s, partly to care for her father who had been (eventually fatally ) injured in a targeted shooting.
Aretha had several medical problems in her later years – she periodically struggled with weight, and dieted intermittently. Initially she had been a chain-smoker, and then overcome alcoholism, but had a tumor removed in 2010, but was only able to perform occasionally thereafter, in fact several times cancelling concerts because of ill-health.
Aretha Franklin was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2018, and died at her home in Detroit, Michigan on 18 August. To her final credit, her life in music was celebrated by family, and friends in the music industry, rather than mourning her passing – moving tributes were paid by such as former President Barack Obama, who had become a friend, as well as by current President Donald Trump.
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