Aretha Franklin

At the time of her death, in August 2018, Quincy Jones said that Aretha Franklin “set the bar” for every other singer, and there’s no question that the woman universally accepted as the “Queen Of Soul” brought something truly unique to the party throughout her illustrious 60-year career.

The Memphis-born daughter of a minister, Franklin initially used her powerful mezzo-soprano voice to sing gospel songs in church, and her first recording, a 10” pairing of the spiritual tunes Never Grow Old and You Grow Closer, was issued as early as 1956. Columbia Records released her first secular album, Aretha, in 1961, but Franklin really came into her own after signing to Atlantic in 1966. She scored sustained mainstream success throughout the next decade thanks to glorious, soul-infused pop albums such as I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You, Lady Soul and Aretha Now, and the slew of classic singles – among them Respect, Think, Chain Of Fools and I Say A Little Prayer – with which she will be forever associated.

By this point, Franklin’s legend was already secure, but she enjoyed further hit albums (Jump To It, Who’s Zoomin’ Who?) with Arista in the 80s, before her later career yielded fruitful collaborations with the likes of Lauryn Hill and Adele. She even signed off in style, winning a Grammy Award for Wonderful, from her final studio album, 2003’s So Damn Happy. Having never lost her crown, Aretha Franklin will forever remain one of the best female singers of all time.