Aretha Franklin

Born into the Baptist Church, part of the beating heart of Gospel music in the USA, Aretha Franklin moved into secular music and became one of the towering figures of soul and R&B. Dubbed the Queen of Soul, Aretha’s extraordinary run of four mid-sixties albums—I Never Loved A Man The Way That I Love You, Aretha Arrives, Lady Soul, and Aretha Now!—confirmed her as a peerless singer whose range and power were unprecedented.

Into the 70s, Franklin continued to produce high quality albums that spoke to listeners across barriers of race, culture and time. In the 80s her superb cameo in The Blues Brothers film gave her a lift and ensured her career continued strongly. Across decades of music-making, Aretha’s catalogue is a large one, with many 'Best Of' compilations allowing new listeners to hear the early hits on which her immortality is based.