Aretha Franklin
Born in Memphis, Tennessee on March 25, 1942, Aretha Franklin got her start in the Detroit church of her pastor father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin. Aretha was exposed at an early age to such music legends as Art Tatum and Nat King Cole, when they visited her father. Oscar Peterson, Duke Ellington, Della Reese, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstine, and Lionel Hampton came to visit. She was first recorded at his New Bethel Baptist Church on the album “Spirituals” at age 14. The young Aretha sang in church at an early age and learned how to play piano by ear.
By her late teens, Franklin was regularly singing solo numbers in her father’s New Bethel Baptist Church. Her central influence, Clara Ward of the renowned Ward Singers, was a family friend. She grew up with Smokey Robinson in a neighborhood that spawned the Four Tops, Diana Ross and Jackie Wilson. Franklin sang her first solo in her father’s church at age nine or ten. As a young teen, Franklin performed with her father on his gospel programs in major cities throughout the country and was recognized as a vocal prodigy.
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, arranged her recording contract and supervised sessions highlighting her in a blues-jazz vein. Aretha, is one of the few artists who is universally accepted in the Black church. The church often shuns artists who sing R&B as backsliders and reject them when they come back and sing gospel. However, Aretha’s always been given a pass.
It’s undeniable that gospel music heavily influenced Franklin from the very start. Her earliest records with Columbia, managed by her father, are admittedly more bland, produced with a precise orchestra for an audience that enjoyed crooners. Even then, Franklin’s voice was the highlight of her records, full of soul. But it was after she left Columbia that her gospel roots really had the chance to shine. The Muscle Shoals band had much more soul themselves, and Franklin was given small amounts of control over her own sound.
In 1972, she released her first gospel album in nearly two decades with “Amazing Grace.” The album eventually became her biggest-selling release ever, selling over two million copies and becoming the best-selling gospel album of all time. In 1987 she again returned to her gospel roots with the album, “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism.” It did not repeat the success of Amazing Grace despite a powerful rendition of “Oh Happy Day”, featuring Mavis Staples, but did reach the Top 10 of Billboard’s gospel chart. Aretha most certainly brought her Gospel roots into secular R&B.