Pink 96.9 fm your life, your music
Related Articles
On the 18 August the singer Aretha Franklin died from cancer in her house in Detroit. She was 76 years old.
Born in 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee, the “Queen of Soul” grew up as daughter of a well-known Baptist preacher in Detroit. Together with her sisters, Aretha Franklin sang in the choir of the father’s “New Bethel Baptist Church”, until she published her first gospel album at the age of 14.
In 1967 she had her breakthrough with the song “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Loved You)”. With “Respect” she became an icon for the black music in America and the song a hymn for the Afro-American population and the women’s movement.
Despite personal setbacks Aretha Franklin won 18 Grammy Awards, sold more than 75 million sound carriers, was admitted to Rock and Rock Hall of Fame as first women and sang at the inauguration of the former US president Barack Obama in front of 2 million people.
The renowned magazine “Rolling Stone” chose her as “Best Singer Of All Time”.
Last year she published her last album called “A Brand New Me”. She is singing her greatest hits with the new arrangements of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In November 2017 Aretha Franklin had her last performance on the occasion of the Elton John Aids Foundation gala in New York.
Since 2010, when she had received the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, her health deteriorated considerably. In the last weeks she was medicated in a hospice until she died from cancer on 18 August 2018.
“In one of our darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our hearts”, stated her family. “We have lost the matriarch and the rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins knew no bounds.”
Also celebrities grieve the singer. US president Donald Trump stated on Twitter: “The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, is dead. She was a great woman, with a wonderful gift from God, her voice. She will be missed!” Besides Elton John, Barbara Streisand and Michelle Obama Paul McCartney commented on the death highlighting “her greatness as a musician”.
Aretha Franklin’s funeral is expected to take place on the 31 August 2018 in Detroit.
Story by: Katrin Albrecht/ pinkfmonlinegh.com
