Aretha Franklin (Born 25/03/1942)

The work she did for Columbia was competent but hardly the stuff of which legends are made - that came when she joined Atlantic Records and began to work with Jerry Wexler. In January 1967, they recorded 'I Never Loved A Man' and 'Do Right Woman' in Rick Hall's Fame studios and the period of classic after classic had begun.
Right from the off, Aretha carried on the secularisation of gospel music first pioneered by Ray Charles, also with Atlantic. Wexler himself points out that although he was ostensibly the producer (and certainly should take the credit for marrying up Aretha with the sympathetic musicians that he did) Aretha was the final arbiter and the key contributor to the overall sound she produced. She selected or wrote most of the material on the first album ("I Never Loved A Man") and in so doing paved the way for the many others who took her lead. Roger Hawkins, the drummer on many of Aretha's great sides, commented on those very first sessions "I've never experienced so much feeling coming out of one human being"

The first four albums for Atlantic produced 10 top ten hits and 6 number one R&B smashes. Much of that success is simply down to the beauty of the music she created and the integrity she displayed in presenting it. Album after album of classic material was produced, starting with the first in 1967, "I Never Loved A Man", followed by gems such as "Aretha Arrives", "Lady Soul", "Aretha Now", "Spirit In The Dark", "Young, Gifted And Black" right through to the 1974 session "Let Me In Your Life", which included the hit 'Until You Come Back To Me'. This brief overview could easily become an album list - each one should be bought and revered.
Throughout this time, not only did she produce a tremendous amount of wonderful original material, she also took other artist's songs and made them her own. Once she recorded a song, it could never be reclaimed by the original artist - try 'Respect' (Otis Redding), 'Chain Of Fools' (Don Covay) or 'I'm In Love' (Bobby Womack) to see what we mean.

In 1980 she left Atlantic to join Arista and her first release "Aretha" boasted a fine version of the Doobies 'What A Fool Believes', proving yet again how she could take a relatively simple pop song and imbue it with a sense of emotion unimagined by listening to the original. In 1985 she released "Who's Zoomin' Who" which was produced by Narada Michael Walden and included three hits, the title track, 'Freeway Of Love' and 'Another Night'. Although an extremely commercial outing, it demonstrated she was still at the top of her form. She hadn't forgotten her gospel roots either and in 1988 she recorded the live gospel album "One Lord, One Faith", partly as a tribute to her father who had died a year earlier.

Her phrasing and timing are second to none and she manages to bring a sense of feeling and integrity to everything she records. Jerry Wexler, commenting on her eclecticism and her ability to sing anything, simply said "Her genius transcends all categories".
And to those good old soul purists who get all uptight at the thought of Aretha doing 'pop songs' such as 'Daydreaming', 'Young Gifted And Black' and 'You're All I Need To Get By' perhaps Aretha herself gave the best response way back in 1967:-