Aretha Franklin
“Her voice is one of the glories of American music. Lithe and sultry, assertive and caressing, knowing and luxuriant, her singing melts down any divisions between gospel, soul, jazz, and rock”
—The New York Times.
For nearly 40 years, Aretha Franklin has been an icon of contemporary pop music, known around the world as the “Queen of Soul.” With her extraordinary range and incendiary gospel-inspired phrasing, Franklin exploded onto the music scene in the late 1960s becoming the country’s leading female vocalist and one of the first female performers to inject the rhythms and intensity of black gospel music into mainstream pop.
Her greatest achievement, perhaps, has been the ability to break down boundaries, to appeal to this country’s vast range of musical tastes.
Main Image: Aretha Franklin finishes her performance in the concert hall at EMPAC to celebrate the transformation of Rensselaer in 2009. Video Still: EMPAC/Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.