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Aretha Franklin music biography continued...

music career began as a young child singing with her sisters at her Reverend father's church in Detroit, Michigan. Her first gospel recording was at the age of 14. Her brother, a minister, took on the role of her manager for the time being. Aretha was eventually discovered by A&R major John Hammond and signed to Columbia Records.

Aretha's first Top 40 single was with "Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody" in the early 1960s. Many felt that Franklin's true soul style was resisted by Columbia who had aspirations for her as a jazz singer. She generated a few noteworthy songs yet never earned the credibility and praise that would soon adorn her.

In 1967 she made the switch to Atlantic Records and began working with producers Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin. Remarkably real and powerful soul began to flow on her first single "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You). The next hit single "Respect" a cover of Otis Redding's original peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also earned Grammy Awards in 1968 for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording and for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

"Lady Soul" became one of the biggest international recording artists in pop music. She generated ten Top Ten hits in the span of 18 months between 1967 and 1968 releasing gospel, blues, rock and pop covers from the Drifters, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and Sam Cooke. Other notable hits during this period, "Chain of Fools", "You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)", "Think", "Baby I Love You", and "The House That Jack Built".

In the early 1970s she released two successful albums, Live at Filmore West, and Amazing Grace a double LP which became the greatest gospel-pop crossover of all time. With the disappointment of the 1973 album Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of The Sky), Aretha still managed to sneak in a hit with soul classic "Angel", which was written by her sister Carolyn. She produced a few other hits with Atlantic until her contract ended in the late 1970s. In 1987, she was the first female to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Her post Atlantic work is often criticized as inferior to her previous hits claiming some of her material unsuitable. However, Franklin has successfully recorded several duets and hits maintaining a prominent existence in the music industry.