59 Fun Facts About Aretha Franklin

By what title is Aretha Franklin universally known?

The other three belong to Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone respectively.

In which city was Aretha Franklin born in 1942?

She was delivered at home on Lucy Avenue; the family moved to Buffalo when she was two and settled in Detroit when she was five.

C. L. Franklin was pastor of which Detroit congregation, where young Aretha first sang solos?

His emotional sermons earned him the nickname of the man with the 'million-dollar voice'.

Which gospel star, long involved with her father, was a role model to the young Aretha?

Mahalia Jackson was also a regular presence, helping to look after the children after their mother died in 1952.

How old was Aretha when her first gospel album, later reissued as Songs of Faith, was recorded?

Jerry Wexler said the voice on it 'was not that of a child but rather of an ecstatic hierophant'.

As a teenager, Aretha spent summers on Chicago's gospel circuit staying with the family of which future soul singer?

The Staple Singers' Mavis remained a lifelong friend.

At 16, Aretha went on tour with which civil rights leader, at whose funeral she later sang?

King was a friend of her father's, and in February 1968 he presented her with the SCLC Drum Beat Award weeks before his death.

Which label signed the 18-year-old Aretha in 1960 as a 'five-percent artist'?

Sam Cooke had tried to steer her to RCA, and Berry Gordy wanted her for Tamla, but her father judged Motown too new.

Which Detroit label boss asked Aretha and her sister Erma to sign, only for their father to refuse?

C. L. Franklin felt Tamla was not yet an established label, so the greatest voice in Detroit never recorded for Motown.

Which Chicago radio personality crowned her with her royal title at the Regal Theater?

The WVON DJ placed an actual crown on her head, and the title stuck for the rest of her life.

Which producer persuaded Aretha to move to Atlantic Records when her contract expired in 1966?

His plan was to build on her gospel roots, which he felt Columbia had never understood.

Aretha recorded 'I Never Loved a Man' at FAME Studios in which Alabama town?

She spent only one day there before a fight involving her husband Ted White, studio owner Rick Hall and a horn player ended the sessions.

'Respect', her signature song, was originally written and recorded by which soul singer?

On hearing her version he reportedly said: 'That little girl done took my song away from me.'

According to engineer Tom Dowd, whose idea was it to spell out the title in 'Respect'?

Her sisters sang the backing vocals, and the reworked lyric flipped the gender of Redding's original.

In what year did 'Respect' top both the R&B and pop charts?

The Library of Congress added her version to the National Recording Registry in 2002.

'(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman' was written by Goffin and King from whose idea?

The Atlantic producer had been musing on the idea of the 'natural man'; the writers gave him a co-writing credit in thanks.

Which two 1968 albums contained 'Chain of Fools', 'Think' and 'I Say a Little Prayer'?

By that year Rolling Stone reckoned her 'the most successful singer in the nation'.

Aretha won the first eight Grammys ever awarded in which category (1968-1975)?

She finished with 18 Grammys from 44 nominations plus Legend and Lifetime Achievement awards.

How many Grammy Awards did Aretha Franklin win in her career?

The haul came from 44 nominations across gospel, R&B and pop.

In June 1968 Aretha appeared on the cover of which magazine, in a portrait by Boris Chaliapin?

That spring she made her first tour outside the US, and Amsterdam fans covered the Concertgebouw stage in flower petals.

In 1969 Aretha was the victim of an impersonation scheme in Florida. What tipped people off?

The singer, Vickie Jones, had been coerced with threats; once cleared she had a brief career of her own and was herself impersonated.

In 1971 Aretha became the first R&B performer to headline which San Francisco rock venue?

The live album Aretha Live at Fillmore West followed later that year.

Her 1972 gospel album Amazing Grace was recorded live over two nights in a church in which city?

The Reverend James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir backed her at New Temple Missionary Baptist Church.

Which Hollywood director filmed the Amazing Grace sessions, in footage that stayed unreleased until 2018?

Sync problems and Franklin's own legal objections held it back until producer Alan Elliott finally released it after her death.

Roughly how many copies did Amazing Grace sell, making it one of the best-selling gospel albums ever?

She reinterpreted standards including Mahalia Jackson's 'How I Got Over'.

Aretha's 1976 soundtrack album Sparkle, with 'Something He Can Feel', was a collaboration with which songwriter?

It gave her the last top-40 pop hit of her Atlantic years; the albums that followed flopped and she left the label in 1979.

In The Blues Brothers (1980), Aretha played the proprietor of what kind of business?

She was the wife of guitarist Matt 'Guitar' Murphy and performed 'Think' in the scene.

Which label, run by Clive Davis, revived her career after she left Atlantic in 1980?

Rolling Stone wrote that 'if anybody could rejuvenate Franklin's puzzlingly stuck career, it was Davis'.

Which rising soul star produced her 1982 comeback album Jump to It?

It was her first gold album in seven years; his follow-up Get It Right fared less well.

Her 1985 album Who's Zoomin' Who, featuring 'Freeway of Love', was produced by whom?

MTV exposure helped make it her first platinum album; the same year she duetted with Eurythmics on 'Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves'.

Her 1987 duet 'I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)', her only UK number one, was recorded with which singer?

It was also her first US number one in nearly twenty years and Billboard later ranked it her biggest Hot 100 single.

In 1987 Aretha became the first woman inducted into which institution?

The UK Music Hall of Fame (2005) and Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2012) followed.

Aretha sang 'America the Beautiful' to open which 1987 sporting spectacular?

She returned for WrestleMania 23 twenty years later, chosen for its 'all grown up' theme.

At the 1998 Grammys, Aretha stepped in at the last minute to sing 'Nessun dorma' for which ailing tenor?

She had sung the aria two nights earlier at MusiCares, and more than a billion viewers watched her do it in the tenor's key.

Her 1993 house track 'A Deeper Love' appeared on the soundtrack of which film?

It topped Billboard's dance chart and reached the UK top five.

Whitney Houston called Aretha 'Auntie Ree'. Which best describes their real relationship?

Cissy Houston sang backing vocals on 'Ain't No Way' as one of the Sweet Inspirations.

Aretha's famous church hat made headlines when she sang at which January 2009 event?

The following year she accepted an honorary degree from Yale.

At the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors, Aretha dropped her fur coat mid-song while performing for which honoree?

The gesture echoed gospel queens tossing furs onto rivals' coffins, according to Rolling Stone; Obama wiped away tears.

Her 2014 cover of which Adele song made her the first woman with 100 entries on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart?

It appeared on Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, her first RCA release.

After a 1984 incident, Aretha never travelled overseas again because of a phobia of what?

She performed only in North America afterwards.

Aretha's second husband, whom she married at her father's church in 1978, was which actor?

Her first marriage, to manager Ted White, ended in divorce in 1969.

In 1979 C. L. Franklin was shot in his Detroit home. How long was he in a coma before he died?

Aretha moved back to Detroit from California in 1982 to help care for him.

In which year did Aretha Franklin receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

George W. Bush presented it; she had received the National Medal of Arts in 1999 and Kennedy Center Honors in 1994.

Where did Rolling Stone rank Aretha on its 2010 list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time?

The magazine repeated the verdict when it revised the list; she was ninth among its greatest artists.

Which actress and singer played Aretha in the 2021 biopic Respect?

Franklin had personally endorsed her for the role; Cynthia Erivo played her in the TV series Genius: Aretha instead.

Aretha's final public performance, in November 2017, was at a New York gala for whose AIDS Foundation?

It took place at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; her last full concert had been at the Ravinia Festival that September.

How old was Aretha Franklin when she died at home in August 2018?

The cause was a malignant pancreatic neuroendocrine tumour, distinct from the most common form of pancreatic cancer.

Aretha sang the national anthem at Super Bowl XL with Aaron Neville and Dr. John in which city?

The 2006 game was played in her hometown; a decade later she gave a four-minute anthem at Ford Field on Thanksgiving in a Lions stocking cap.

Which actress played Aretha in the third season of National Geographic's Genius in 2021?

Franklin's family denounced the miniseries, saying they had not been involved, though producers said the estate had endorsed it.

By what nickname was Aretha's father, C. L. Franklin, known for his emotionally driven sermons?

His fame drew gospel stars such as Clara Ward and James Cleveland to the family home.

At 18, Aretha said she wanted to follow which gospel-turned-pop singer into secular music?

She had met him on a trip to California with her father, and moved to New York to cut the demo that reached Columbia.

In 1995 Aretha played Aunt Em in an Apollo Theater revival of which musical?

The same year Whitney Houston handpicked her to sing 'It Hurts Like Hell' on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack.

Where was Aretha's Homegoing Service held on August 31, 2018?

Thousands had earlier filed past her during the public lying-in-repose at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

Which of Aretha's siblings served as her manager from her 1969 divorce until his death in 1989?

Her sisters Erma and Carolyn spent years singing background vocals on her records instead.

In which year did Michigan officially declare Aretha's voice a state 'natural resource'?

She had received her Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1979 and would enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two years after the declaration.

Which Aretha album topped Rolling Stone's 'Women in Rock: 50 Essential Albums' list?

Its 1967 title track was cut in a single day at FAME Studios before an altercation ended the Muscle Shoals session.

In which Los Angeles neighbourhood did Aretha live until moving back to Michigan in 1982?

She moved back to Bloomfield Hills to be near her father, who lay in a coma after being shot in 1979.

Which 1973 Aretha album, produced by Quincy Jones, bombed despite the hit single 'Angel'?

Her run of Atlantic hits kept fading until Curtis Mayfield's Sparkle soundtrack in 1976.

Where did Aretha give her last full concert, on September 3, 2017?

She had announced that February that 2017 would be her final year of touring.