Aretha Franklin will forever hold the title of The Queen of Soul, and rightly so having won 18 Grammys, selling 75 million records worldwide and being the most charted female in music history on Billboard’s music charts.
The numbers are numbers and they show an incredible achievement, but the reason is the way she connects with people’s hearts and minds with the expression of her voice. Her dynamics, timbre and musicality was completely off the charts. Beyond measurability. She moved you to tears. She moved you to sing along. She moved your heart to feel every note that came from her performance.
That is why she is the Queen of Soul to me. Not only Queen of soul music and chart success but queen over every soul that loves rhythm and blues. There is no pop artist alive today that can sway hearts like Aretha did for decades. Not one that has the depth of soul. A few years ago I made Aretha Franklin channels on my streaming stations so that my son and daughter could experience her magic. I will be breaking out my Aretha Franklin box set again not to hear just the hits but the B sides and not so famous cuts because the gems don’t stop with what we know of as the hit songs. Her entire body of work is so prolific and influential.
The musicians and producers she worked with all know and understand full and well what a blessing and honor it was to have had such an amazing opportunity to write, record and perform with such a superstar. Starting off singing gospel in church then next being marketed in the jazz realm it became clear where Aretha needed to be and that was singing soul music.
Soul music became pop music thanks in huge part to Aretha. She fused gospel & blues together and blazed her own path. The path straight to the top of the musical throne.
RIP Aretha
- Soul Music Became Pop Music Because of Aretha Franklin - August 16, 2018
