Aretha Franklin

While Franklin would later say she enjoyed her tenure on Columbia Records, most of the records were considered to be not artistically satisfying to Aretha's style and would later be forgotten about following Franklin's rise to stardom with her earthier R&B recordings with Atlantic. Read Less

She returned to number-one on the R&B charts with her cover version of "Share Your Love with Me" later that year and reached the position again in early 1970 with the self-composed ballad, "Call Me", which was her first composition without posting any credit from Ted White, who allegedly bullied his way to composition credit rights for some of Franklin's compositions, much to Franklin's chagrin. Read Less

Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Barbara Siggers Franklin and Clarence LaVaughn Franklin. Franklin's father, Clarence, otherwise known as "C. L." Franklin, was a rising itinerant preacher, who moved to Memphis from Shelby, Mississippi. Within two years after Aretha's birth, however, Franklin's father again moved, this time up north to Buffalo, New York. The initial reasoning behind Franklin's move to Buffalo was, because Franklin sought to find better opportunities and reach a bigger church audience as compared to the South. However, it was debated Franklin moved after word reached about him impregnating a teenage member of his Memphis church and he moved north to avoid the scandal and a possible court case.

Franklin wasn't six yet, when her father moved to and eventually settled in Detroit, where he built his own church, the New Bethel Baptist Church. Following the move, Franklin's parents separated after a contentious marriage, with Barbara Franklin settling in Buffalo, New York, where she became a nurse. Aretha would later recall spending time with her mother at her house in Buffalo during summertime visits, though it had been debated Franklin's mother had abandoned her, a charge Franklin has constantly denied. Franklin wasn't yet ten, when her mother died suddenly in Buffalo. While she and her siblings attended her funeral, it was said their father either couldn't or refused to attend. Shortly after her mother was buried, Aretha started singing solos at her father's church. Read Less