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1942 - Born on March 25th in Memphis, Tennesee. An American singer who defined the golden age of soul music of the 1960s.
1948 - Her parents separated when she was six, and Franklin remained with her father in Detroit.
1956 - Albertina Walker and Jackie Verdell—helped shape young Franklin's style. Her album "The Gospel Sound of Aretha Franklin" captures the electricity of her performances as a 14-year-old.
1960 - At age 18, with her father's blessing, Franklin switched from sacred to secular music.
- She moved to New York City, where Columbia Records executive John Hammond, who had signed Count Basie and Billie Holiday, arranged her recording contract and supervised sessions highlighting her in a blues-jazz vein. From that first session, “Today I Sing the Blues” remains a classic.
1963-1964 - Columbia placed her with a variety of producers who marketed her to both adults (“If Ever You Should Leave Me”) and teens (“Soulville”).
1967 - Franklin returned to her gospel-blues roots, and the results were sensational. “I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)”, recorded at Fame Studios in Florence, Alabama, was her first million-seller.
1968 - “Think”, which Franklin wrote herself, also had more than one meaning. For the next half-dozen years, she became a hit maker of unprecedented proportions; she was “Lady Soul.”
1970 - She triumphed at the Fillmore West in San Francisco before an audience of flower children and on whirlwind tours of Europe and Latin America.
1972 - Her return to church, "Amazing Grace", is considered one of the great gospel albums of any era.
1982-1985 - With help from singer-songwriter-producer Luther Vandross, she was back on top with a new label, Arista, and a new dance hit, “Jump to It,” followed by “Freeway of Love”.
1987 - She became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1948 - Her parents separated when she was six, and Franklin remained with her father in Detroit.
1956 - Albertina Walker and Jackie Verdell—helped shape young Franklin's style. Her album "The Gospel Sound of Aretha Franklin" captures the electricity of her performances as a 14-year-old.
1960 - At age 18, with her father's blessing, Franklin switched from sacred to secular music.
- She moved to New York City, where Columbia Records executive John Hammond, who had signed Count Basie and Billie Holiday, arranged her recording contract and supervised sessions highlighting her in a blues-jazz vein. From that first session, “Today I Sing the Blues” remains a classic.
1963-1964 - Columbia placed her with a variety of producers who marketed her to both adults (“If Ever You Should Leave Me”) and teens (“Soulville”).
1967 - Franklin returned to her gospel-blues roots, and the results were sensational. “I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)”, recorded at Fame Studios in Florence, Alabama, was her first million-seller.
1968 - “Think”, which Franklin wrote herself, also had more than one meaning. For the next half-dozen years, she became a hit maker of unprecedented proportions; she was “Lady Soul.”
1970 - She triumphed at the Fillmore West in San Francisco before an audience of flower children and on whirlwind tours of Europe and Latin America.
1972 - Her return to church, "Amazing Grace", is considered one of the great gospel albums of any era.
1982-1985 - With help from singer-songwriter-producer Luther Vandross, she was back on top with a new label, Arista, and a new dance hit, “Jump to It,” followed by “Freeway of Love”.
1987 - She became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
  | Page last updated: 1:29am, 01 |
- "I always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music."
- "It's so glamorous, you have to see it."(describing the $92 million Rock&Roll Hall of Fame)"
