[close] Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She is known to the music world as "The Queen of Soul" and is affectionately called "Sister Ree" by her fans. She is renowned for her soul recordings but is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, gospel, and even opera. She is widely acclaimed for her passionate, soulful vocal style, which is aided by a massive and powerful vocal range.

Franklin is the second most honored female singer in Grammy history (after Alison Krauss). She has won twenty Grammy Awards, which includes the Living Legend Grammy and the Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Aretha won eight consecutive awards between 1968 and 1975, during which time the category of Best Female R&B Vocal Performance was nicknamed "The Aretha Award".

Franklin has had a total of twenty #1 R&B singles - a record unsurpassed by any other female recording act - and a total of seventeen top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Two of them became #1 hit songs on the Billboard Hot 100 as well, "Respect" in the 1960s and her 1980s duet with George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)".
[close]