Aretha Franklin (32 page)

In 1960, when Aretha was eighteen years old, she was signed to Columbia records, where she started her long career as the singer of pop standards and jazz. The man who signed her to the record label was legendary jazz producer John Hammond.
(Photo: Columbia Records / MJB Photo Archives)

While Columbia was promoting her records, they carefully kept facts about Aretha's personal life out of the public's eye. Her fans had no idea that she had already given birth to two children by the time she was eighteen.
(Photo: Columbia Records / MJB Photo Archives)

Aretha's father, reverend C. L. Franklin, in 1963. He was not only famous for the fiery sermons he delivered in his downtown Detroit church, but he was also quite a controversial character as well. He fathered the baby of a thirteen-year-old girl in his congregation while he was married to Aretha's mother.
(Photo: AP / Wide World)

By 1967, Aretha Franklin had earned her right to sing the blues. She spent most of her young life dominated by the men in her life, including her father, and her first husband Ted White. Several sources claim that White physically abused her during their marriage.
(Photo: Atlantic Records / Vince Aletti Collection)

Once signed to Atlantic Records, Aretha unleashed the power of her voice that she had been holding inside during her jazz-singing years at Columbia. Starting with the songs “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You” and “respect” she became a huge overnight sensation on the record charts.
(Photo: James J. Kriegsmann / Atlantic Records / MJB Photo Archives)

Starting in 1967, Aretha's initial recordings at Atlantic Records yielded one Top Ten hit after another, including: “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Chain of Fools,” “Think,” “Baby I Love You,” and “The House That Jack Built.”
(Photo: Rhino Records / MJB Photo Archives)

In the late sixties Aretha seemed to be at her most focused and carefree when she was in the recording studio in New York City. Once she was there she could concentrate on her music, and temporarily forget about her physically and mentally abusive marriage to ted White.
(Photo: Chuck Stewart)

When she was appearing in Chicago in 1968 a local disc jockey by the name of Purvis Spann walked on-stage, placed a crown on her head, and declared that Aretha was the “Queen of Soul.” That name has stuck ever since.
(Photo: Charles Moniz Collection)

Jerry Wexler (left), Aretha, and her brother Cecil Franklin (right). It was Wexler who was responsible for giving Aretha's career a new direction and focus. He wanted to make sure that she not only had relevance on the R&B charts, but was also embraced by the rock & roll audience as well.
(Photo: Vince Aletti Collection)

Aretha Franklin has always been fascinated with ancient Egypt. She was in her Queen Nefertiti phase on October 9, 1970, when she appeared on the
This is Tom Jones
television series. Together, Aretha and Tom sang hot duet versions of her hit “See Saw,” and his signature song “It's Not Unusual” on the show.
(Photo: ABC-TV / MJB Photo Archives)

On March 14, 1972, Aretha won a Grammy Award for her recording of “Bridge over Troubled Water.” Backstage she was surrounded by The Righteous Brothers: Bill Medley (left) and Bobby Hatfield (right).
(Photo: AP / Wide World)