Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin — the Queen of Soul — sang with an authority that could shake the foundations of a building and a tenderness that could break your heart in the same breath. Her 1967 version of "Respect" became the anthem of both the civil rights and women's movements, transforming Otis Redding's plea into a demand that still echoes. She won 18 Grammy Awards, was the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and was named the greatest singer of all time by Rolling Stone.

Born in Memphis in 1942 and raised in Detroit, Franklin was the daughter of the Reverend C.L. Franklin, one of the most famous preachers in America. She grew up in a household visited by Martin Luther King Jr., Sam Cooke, and Mahalia Jackson. She began singing in her father's church and recorded her first album at 14. Her voice was already a force of nature.

Franklin's move to Atlantic Records in 1967 unleashed a run of recordings — "Respect," "Natural Woman," "Chain of Fools," "Think" — that defined an era. She sang at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral, at three presidential inaugurations, and at the Kennedy Center Honors, where her performance of "Natural Woman" moved President Obama to tears. When she joined the ancestors in 2018, the world lost the greatest voice it had ever known.