Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the "Queen of Soul", Rolling Stone twice named her as the greatest singer of all time. With global sales of over 75 million records, Franklin is one of the world's best-selling music artists. As a child, Franklin was noticed for her gospel singing at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister. At the age of 18, she 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. Hit songs such as "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", "Respect", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Chain of Fools", "Think", and "I Say a Little Prayer", propelled Franklin past her musical peers. Franklin continued to record acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967), Lady Soul (1968), Spirit in the Dark (1970), Young, Gifted and Black (1972), Amazing Grace (1972), and Sparkle (1976), before experiencing problems with the record company. Franklin left Atlantic in 1979 and signed with Arista Records. The singer appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers before releasing the successful albums Jump to It (1982), Who's Zoomin' Who? (1985) and Aretha (1986) on the Arista label. In 1998, Franklin returned to the Top 40 with the Lauryn Hill-produced song "A Rose Is Still a Rose"; later, she released an album with the same name. Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on the US Billboard charts, including 73 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and 20 number-one R&B singles. Besides the foregoing, the singer's well-known hits also include "Ain't No Way", "Call Me", "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)", "Spanish Harlem", "Rock Steady", "Day Dreaming", "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)", "Something He Can Feel", "Jump to It", "Freeway of Love", "Who's Zoomin' Who" and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (a duet with George Michael). Franklin won 18 Grammy Awards (out of 44 nominations), including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (1968–1975), a Grammy Awards Living Legend honor and Lifetime Achievement Award. Franklin received numerous honors throughout her career. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1987, she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2019, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded the songwriter a posthumous special citation "for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades". In 2020, Franklin was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. .. Source: Article "Aretha Franklin" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Aretha Louise Franklin, née le 25 mars 1942 à Memphis (Tennessee) et morte le 16 août 2018 à Détroit (Michigan), est une chanteuse, pianiste et auteure-compositrice américaine de soul, jazz, gospel et rhythm and blues. Elle est fréquemment surnommée «The Queen Of Soul» («la Reine de la Soul»). Militante des droits civiques aux côtés de Martin Luther King, femme de combat, diva et porte-parole de tout un peuple, Aretha Franklin est considérée comme la chanteuse afro-américaine la plus influente du XXe siècle. Ses albums I Never Loved a Man en 1967, Lady Soul en 1968 et Young, Gifted & Black en 1972 redéfinissent les codes de la musique contemporaine en popularisant avec Ray Charles la soul music mêlant R&B et gospel. On compte parmi ses plus grands tubes les chansons Think, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, I Say a Little Prayer, I Never Loved A Man, Ain't No Way, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) en duo avec George Michael, Freeway of Love, Chain of Fools, Angel et Respect. Chain of Fools devient une chanson de protestation contre la guerre du Viêt Nam parmi les combattants américains. Respect devient en 1967 un hymne féministe et le symbole du combat de la communauté afro-américaine pour sa liberté. L'influence d'Aretha sur la musique contemporaine est grande, ouvrant la voie à d'autres grandes interprètes féminines, qu'il s'agisse de Patti LaBelle, Donna Summer, Natalie Cole ou encore Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Beyoncé, Adele ou Alicia Keys. Tom Jones, Elton John, Freddie Mercury, Prince, David Bowie et Luther Vandross notent aussi l'influence de la chanteuse sur leur manière de faire de la musique et de chanter. Aretha Franklin est en effet l’une des premières artistes à s'accompagner au piano et popularise le mélisme dans la musique contemporaine, technique qui consiste à chanter sur plusieurs notes une seule et même syllabe. Elle est la chanteuse la plus classée dans l'histoire de l'industrie discographique américaine avec 112 titres placés dans les charts américains, dont vingt numéros 1 dans la catégorie R&B. Avec plus de 75 millions d’exemplaires vendus, elle reste aujourd'hui l'artiste féminine ayant vendu le plus de disques vinyles et, plus généralement, une des artistes ayant vendu le plus de disques. ... Source: Article "Aretha Franklin" de Wikipédia en français, soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0.