Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist whose roots ran deep in the soil of Detroit, Michigan. Born on March 25, 1942, and known as the "Queen of Soul," she was twice named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest singer of all time. Although she came into the world in Memphis, Tennessee, Detroit was the city that formed her voice, her faith, and her sense of identity. Franklin's career took her all over the world, but Detroit was the place she called home until her 2018 death. Her story is inseparable from the story of Detroit itself — its churches, its civil rights struggles, its neighborhoods, and its position as one of the great centers of Black American culture in the twentieth century.

Early Life and Arrival in Detroit

Aretha's father was a Baptist minister and circuit preacher originally from Shelby, Mississippi, while her mother was an accomplished piano player and vocalist. When Aretha was two years old, the family relocated to Buffalo, New York. By the time Aretha turned five, C. L. Franklin had permanently relocated the family to Detroit, Michigan, where he took over the pastorship of the New Bethel Baptist Church.

Aretha came along at a time when the Black community in Detroit was growing rapidly. The Franklin family moved to Detroit in 1946, and between 1940 and 1950, the Black community doubled in population in the city — part of a second wave of the Great Migration, when tens of thousands of African Americans from the South moved to Detroit looking for a better life.

The family settled on the 7400 block of La Salle Boulevard, in the La Salle Gardens neighborhood on the city's west side. Franklin later recalled it as "the most beautiful home I had ever seen," describing the 5,200-square-foot house. Her father had national prominence, and it meant that Black musical luminaries regularly visited, including Nat King Cole, Mahalia Jackson, Art Tatum, and Sam Cooke. Future Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr. and future Motown artist Smokey Robinson lived nearby.

Aretha's mother died of a heart attack on March 7, 1952, before Aretha's 10th birthday. Several women, including Aretha's grandmother, Rachel, and Mahalia Jackson, took turns helping with the children at the Franklin home. During this time, Aretha learned how to play piano by ear. She attended public school in Detroit, going through her first year at Northern High School, but dropped out during her second year.

New Bethel Baptist Church and Gospel Beginnings

Before she was the Queen of Soul and a social justice crusader, Aretha Franklin was the songbird of New Bethel Baptist Church, located in Detroit's 12th Street neighborhood. The church served as the spiritual and creative cradle of her artistry, a place where she developed her extraordinary vocal gifts under the guidance of her father's congregation and the broader gospel community that moved through its doors.

Like Mozart, Aretha was a child prodigy. By age 14, in 1956, she recorded "Precious Lord Take My Hand" as part of her father's traveling gospel show, proving she had already achieved technical mastery.

Under the leadership of Aretha's father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, New Bethel was a central location for the civil rights fight in Detroit. Rev. Franklin organized the 1963 Detroit Walk to Freedom, the largest civil rights demonstration in history at the time. Martin Luther King, Jr. concluded the march with a portion of his "I Have a Dream" speech, which he would go on to deliver at the historic March on Washington two months later. Aretha grew up at the intersection of gospel music and political activism, and both currents ran through her work for the rest of her life.

According to family associate Fannie Tyler, Aretha "grew up with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. They were young kids together, Smokey, Levi Stubbs, Mary Wilson, and Jackie Wilson." Though she would never sign with Motown Records, she was childhood friends with Motown recording artist and songwriter Smokey Robinson and other artists on the label.

The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 12, 2021.

Musical Career and Detroit Connections

At the age of 18, Franklin was signed as a recording artist for Columbia Records. While her career did not immediately flourish, Franklin found acclaim and commercial success once she signed with Atlantic Records in 1966. In 1967, the year "Respect" hit the charts, Franklin was crowned "Queen of Soul" by Chicago DJ Pervis Spann.

When Aretha belted "R–E–S–P–E–C–T," the Detroit native with soul-gripping vocals instantly captured the world's attention. Released in 1967, in the depths of the civil rights movement and women's rights movement, the song not only became a signature hit but a nationwide anthem. Her song "Respect" was described as "an anthem for the Civil Rights movement," and in February 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. presented her with an honorary award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She sang at his funeral two months later.

Though her greatest commercial recordings were made in studios in New York and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Detroit remained woven into her musical identity. The Flame Show Bar was the site of Aretha's 10-day nightclub appearance in 1963, at the corner of John R and Canfield. United Sound Systems Recording Studios, at 5840 Second Avenue, was the place where Aretha recorded some of her 1980s hits. Keith Richards and Aretha Franklin recorded the remake of The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" there, along with her duet with Eurythmics' Annie Lennox for "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" and parts of the platinum album Who's Zoomin' Who?

Released in July 1985 on the Who's Zoomin' Who? album, the song "Freeway of Love" became her first top 10 hit in more than a decade. The music video for that song was shot across Detroit landmarks, including Doug's Body Shop on Woodward Avenue in Ferndale, the Ford Motor Co. River Rouge complex in Dearborn, the former General Motors headquarters in New Center, and Detroit freeways including I-75, I-94, and the Lodge.

Aretha came to have 20 number one R&B hits and garnered more than 20 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. She was nominated for 44 Grammy Awards and won 18. She had many honors bestowed upon her, including singing at the inaugurations of three U.S. Presidents, and she was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1987. On April 15, 2019, she was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

Franklin also performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) in the late 1990s. On January 4, 2023, in a world premiere presentation, the DSO honored her legacy with RESPECT: Film in Concert, bringing the essence of Aretha Franklin back into Orchestra Hall — a stage she had graced with her band and the DSO in the late 1990s.

Civil Rights Legacy and Detroit's Black Community

Aretha Franklin's life in Detroit was never separate from the civil rights struggles that defined the city and the nation. Her father's church served as an organizing hub, and her music gave voice to the aspirations of an era. As noted by Reverend JoAnn Watson, a friend of Franklin's and former Detroit City Council member, Aretha "was a woman who felt deeply about causes" and "was as committed to human rights and civil rights as her late father was." Rev. C. L. Franklin was the man who first invited Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Detroit in June 1963, when King first publicly said, "I have a dream" — he was in Detroit, as the guest of her father.

Franklin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. In February 2006, she performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" with Aaron Neville and Dr. John for Super Bowl XL, held in her hometown of Detroit. After Franklin pointed out that no Motown talent was appearing in the Detroit Super Bowl halftime show, the NFL asked her to sing the national anthem along with Aaron Neville prior to the game.

Later Life, Death, and Memorialization in Detroit

Franklin was performing at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas on June 10, 1979, when her father, C. L., was shot twice at point-blank range in his Detroit home. After six months at Henry Ford Hospital while still in a coma, C. L. was moved back to his home with 24-hour nursing care. Aretha moved back to Detroit in late 1982 to assist with the care of her father, who died at Detroit's New Light Nursing Home on July 27, 1984.

Aretha Franklin was born March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, and lived in New York City and Los Angeles as an adult while forging her legendary career. She returned to Detroit in the early 1980s and called it home for the rest of her life. Her later Detroit residence was located at 18261 Hamilton Road in Detroit, which she bought in 1993.

In February 2017, Franklin announced she would retire from performing in concert after the release of one more album. "I am retiring this year," she told a local television station in Detroit. She died on August 16, 2018, at her home in Detroit, surrounded by family and friends.

She died of pancreatic cancer and lay in state at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and New Bethel Baptist Church for three days. Her funeral service, attended by Smokey Robinson, President Bill Clinton, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Stevie Wonder among other dignitaries, was broadcast live on Detroit television stations. Woodlawn Cemetery, at 19975 Woodward Avenue, is her eternal resting place — alongside Rosa Parks and hundreds of other prominent Detroiters.

In the days following her passing, the city moved quickly to honor her memory in stone and name. Located along the shore of the Detroit River, the former Chene Park Amphitheatre was rebranded in 2019 as the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre to honor Detroit's own music icon. The venue is a majestic, 6,000-person waterfront space recognized as one of the top 100 concert venues in the world.

Franklin sold more than 75 million records worldwide over a career that spanned six decades. Her voice and legacy continue to inspire new generations.