Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American soul, R&B, and gospel singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has been called for many years “The Queen Of Soul“, but many also call her “Lady Soul,” as well as the more affectionate “Sista Re.” She is renowned for her soul and R&B recordings but is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, gospel, and even opera.  She is generally regarded as one of the top vocalists ever, due to her ability to inject whatever she may be singing about with passion, soul and sheer conviction.

Franklin is the second most honored female singer in Grammy history after Alison Krauss. Ms. Franklin has won seventeen competitive Grammy Awards. She won an unprecedented eight consecutive trophies between 1967 and 1974, during which time the category of Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, was nicknamed ‘The Aretha Award’.

Franklin has had a total of 20 #1 R&B singles - a record unsurpassed by any other recording act. Two of them became #1 hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100 as well, “Respect” in the 1960s and her 1980s duet with George Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)”, and many of her singles have hit Top 20, Top 10, and Top 5 positions.

Like Madonna and Marvin Gaye, she is one of only three musicians who have placed a single on every charted position of the Billboard top ten pop singles chart.

Always true to her roots, Franklin has spent the past 25 years living in her adopted hometown of Detroit, Michigan.

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