ARETHA FRANKLIN

"The Queen of Soul"… "Lady Soul" - Aretha Franklin is one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. Aretha Franklin has won nineteen Grammy Awards in total during her 45- year career, and currently holds the record for most Best Female R&B Vocal Performance - eleven.

Her pop-music recording career began when she signed a record deal in 1961 with CBS/Columbia, but her career really took off when she signed with Atlantic Records. Franklin's first album for Atlantic, I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You), was released in 1967, and several hit-filled LPs followed.

Major singles include "I Never Loved a Man", "Baby I Love You", "Chain of Fools", "Think", "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman", and the intense adaptation of Otis Redding's "Respect".

Franklin's version of "Respect," coming as it did at a crucial point for black activism, feminism, and sexual liberation, was particularly powerful. It scored two trophies at that year's Grammy Awards and she proceeded to take home Grammys every year between 1969 and 1975.

At the time, many saw Franklin as a symbol of black America itself, reflecting the increased confidence and pride of African-Americans in the decade of the civil rights movements and other triumphs for the black community.

Listen to: Aretha Franklin - Respect