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Aretha Franklin Quotes

Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, civil rights activist, actress, and pianist. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was minister. At the age of 18, she embarked on a secular career recording for Columbia Records. However, she achieved only modest success. Franklin found acclaim and commercial success after signing with Atlantic Records in 1966. Hit songs such as "Respect", "Chain of Fools", "Think", " A Natural Woman", "I Never Loved a Man ", and "I Say a Little Prayer", propelled Franklin past her musical peers. By the end of the 1960s, Aretha Franklin had come to be known as "The Queen of Soul".

She continued to record acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You , Lady Soul , Spirit in the Dark , Young, Gifted and Black , Amazing Grace , and Sparkle before experiencing problems with her record company. Franklin left Atlantic in 1979 and signed with Arista Records. She appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers before releasing the successful albums Jump to It , Who's Zoomin' Who? , and Aretha on the Arista label.

In 1998, Franklin returned to the top 40 with the Lauryn Hill-produced song "A Rose Is Still a Rose", later issuing the album of the same name, which went gold. That same year, Franklin earned international acclaim for her performance of "Nessun dorma" at the Grammy Awards, filling in at the last minute for Luciano Pavarotti, who had cancelled after the show had already begun.

In a widely noted performance, she paid tribute to 2015 honoree Carole King by singing " A Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center Honors.

Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries, and 20 number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in history. Franklin's other well-known hits include "Rock Steady", "Call Me", "Ain't No Way", "Don't Play That Song ", "Spanish Harlem", "Day Dreaming", "Until You Come Back to Me ", "Something He Can Feel", "Jump to It", "Freeway of Love", "Who's Zoomin' Who", and "I Knew You Were Waiting " . She won 18 Grammy Awards, including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance from 1968 through to 1975, and she is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.Franklin received numerous honors throughout her career, including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the first female performer to be inducted, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012. Franklin is listed in two all-time lists by Rolling Stone magazine, including the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2008, she was ranked by Rolling Stone as the No. 1 greatest singer of all time.

✵ 25. March 1942 – 16. August 2018
Aretha Franklin photo
Aretha Franklin: 7   quotes 1   like

Famous Aretha Franklin Quotes

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Find out what it means to me
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Take care … TCB
Sock it to me, Sock it to me, Sock it to me.”

Aretha Franklin

Source: Song lyrics, Lines added among her 1967 alterations to the 1965 song "Respect", originally written by Otis Redding

“I want to be what he wants when he wants it, and whenever he needs it
And when he's lonesome and feelin' love starved
I'll be there to feed it
I'm givin' him a little bit for each day
He turns me right on when I hear him say(Hey baby let's get away, let's go somewhere far)
(Baby can we?)
Well I don't care.”

Aretha Franklin

"Day Dreaming", from Young (1972)
Song lyrics

“Speak your name
And I'll feel a thrill.
You said I do,
And I said I will.I tell you that I'll stay true,
And give you just a little time.
Wait on me baby,
I want you to be all mine.
I just get so blue.Since you've been gone, baby”

Aretha Franklin

why'd you do it? why'd you have to do it?
"(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone", written with Teddy White, from Lady Soul (1968)
Song lyrics

“Step n' move your hips
With a feelin' from side to side
Sit yourself down in your car
And take a ride.And while you're movin'
Rock steady
Rock steady baby.
Let's call this song exactly what it is”

Aretha Franklin

What it is -what it is - what it is
"Rock Steady", from Young (1972)
Song lyrics

“You walked in on the sly
Scopin' for love
In the crowd, I caught your eye
You can't hide your stuff.You came to catch
You thought I'd be naive and tame
You met your match
I beat you at your own game.”

Aretha Franklin

"Who's Zoomin' Who", written with Preston Glass and Narada Michael Walden, from Who's Zoomin' Who? (1985)
Song lyrics

“People walkin' around everyday,
Playin' games and takin' scores.
Tryin' to make other people lose their minds.
Well be careful you don't lose yours.Oh think (think)
Think about what you're tryin' to do to me.
Woo-hoo think (think)
Let your mind go let yourself be free.You need me (need me)
And I need you (don't cha know)
Without each other
There ain't nothin' we two can do.”

Aretha Franklin

"Think", written with Teddy White, from Aretha Now (1968)
Song lyrics

“What made her talent so great was her capacity to live what she sang. Her music was deepened by her connection to the struggles and the triumphs of the African American experience growing up in her father’s church, the community of Detroit, and her awareness of the turmoil of the South. She had a lifelong, unwavering commitment to civil rights and was one of the strongest supporters of the movement. She was our sister and our friend. Whenever I would see her, from time to time, she would always inquire about the well-being of people she met and worked with during the sixties.When she sang, she embodied what we were fighting for, and her music strengthened us. It revived us. When we would be released from jail after a non-violent protest, we might go to a late night club and let the music of Aretha Franklin fill our hearts. She was like a muse whose songs whispered the strength to continue on. Her music gave us a greater sense of determination to never give up or give in, and to keep the faith. She was a wonderful, talented human being. We mourn for Aretha Franklin. We have lost the Queen of Soul.”

Aretha Franklin

John Lewis, "Congressman John Lewis on Aretha Franklin: ‘One of God’s precious gifts’" https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/congressman-john-lewis-aretha-franklin-one-god-precious-gifts/PRXHP5dgRpjhhuIUdjGEsO/, Atlanta Journal-Constitution (August 16, 2018)

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