Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942) is a Memphis, Tennessee-born but Detroit, Michigan-reared American iconic gospel, soul, and R&B singer. Many have called her "The Queen Of Soul" and "Lady Soul". She is renowned for her soul and R&B recordings (on many, of which, she accompanies herself on keyboards and piano -- a skill she learned at an early age, learning to play by ear, according to lifetime friend Smokey Robinson) but is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, and gospel. Read more about Aretha Franklin on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.