Hello,
Today's artist is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She began her career as a child singing gospel at the church of her father, minister C. L. Franklin's church. In 1960, at the age of 18, Franklin embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success. Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, she achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as "Respect", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and "Think". These hits and more helped her to gain the title The Queen of Soul by the end of the 1960s decade. She has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in which she became the first female performer to be inducted. ........ N'joy
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Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1942. A gifted singer and pianist, Franklin toured with her father's traveling revival show and later visited New York, where she signed with Columbia Records. Franklin went on to release several popular singles, many of which are now considered classics. In 1987, she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2008 she won her 18th Grammy Award, making her one of the most honored artists in Grammy history.
The fourth of five children, Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Baptist preacher Reverend Clarence La Vaughan "C. L." Franklin and Barbara Siggers Franklin, a gospel singer. Franklin's parents separated by the time she was six, and four years later her mother succumbed to a heart attack. Guided by C. L.'s preaching assignments, the family relocated to Detroit, Michigan. C. L. eventually landed at New Bethel Baptist Church, where he gained national renown as a preacher.
Aretha Franklin's musical gifts became apparent at an early age. Largely self-taught, she was regarded as a child prodigy. A gifted pianist with a powerful voice, Franklin got her start singing in front of her father's congregation. By the age of 14, she had recorded some of her earliest tracks at his church, which were released by a small label as the album Songs of Faith in 1956. She also performed with C. L.'s traveling revival show and, while on tour, befriended gospel greats such as Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and Clara Ward.
But life on the road also exposed Franklin to adult behaviors, she gave birth to her first son, Clarence, shortly after she turned 14. A second child followed two years later both with unnamed fathers ! (Think of it what you will -, i know i do) After a brief hiatus, Franklin returned to performing and followed heroes such as Cooke and Dinah Washington into pop and blues territory. In 1960, with her father's blessing, Franklin traveled to New York, where after being courted by several labels, including Motown and RCA, she signed with Columbia Records, who released the album Aretha in 1961.
Though two tracks from Aretha would make the R&B Top 10, a bigger success came that same year with the single "Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody," which crossed over to No. 37 on the pop charts. But while Franklin enjoyed moderate results with her recordings over the next few years, they failed to fully showcase her immense talent. In 1966, she and her new husband and manager, Ted White, decided a move was in order, and Franklin signed to Atlantic. Producer Jerry Wexler immediately shuttled Franklin to the studios at the Florence Alabama Musical Emporium.
Backed by the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section—which included session guitarists Eric Clapton and Duane Allman—Aretha recorded the single "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)." In the midst of the recording sessions, White quarreled with a member of the band, and White and Franklin left abruptly. But as the single became a massive Top 10 hit, Franklin re-emerged in New York and was able to complete the partially recorded track, "Do Right Woman—Do Right Man."
Hitting her stride in 1967 and 1968, Franklin churned out a string of hit singles that would become enduring classics, showcasing Franklin's powerful voice and gospel roots in a pop framework. In 1967, the album I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) was released, and the first song on the album, "Respect"—an empowered cover of an Otis Redding track—reached No. 1 on both the R&B and pop charts and won Aretha her first two Grammy Awards. She also had Top 10 hits with "Baby I Love You,'' "Think," "Chain of Fools,'' "I Say a Little Prayer," "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."
Franklin's chart dominance soon earned her the title "Queen of Soul," while at the same time she also became a symbol of black empowerment during the civil rights movement of the time. In 1968, Franklin was enlisted to perform at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during which she paid tribute to her father's fallen friend with a heartfelt rendition of "Precious Lord." Later that year, she was also selected to sing the national anthem to begin the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Amidst this newfound success, Franklin experienced upheaval in her personal life, and she and White divorced in 1969. But this did not slow Franklin's steady rise, and the new decade brought more hit singles, including "Don't Play That Song," "Spanish Harlem" and her cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters." Spurred by Mahalia Jackson's passing and a subsequent resurgence of interest in gospel music, Franklin returned to her musical origins for the 1972 album Amazing Grace, which sold more than 2 million copies and went on to become the best-selling gospel album at the time.
Franklin's success continued throughout the 1970s, as she branched out to work with producers such as Curtis Mayfield and Quincy Jones and expanded her repertoire to include rock and pop covers. Along the way, she took home eight consecutive Grammy Awards for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance, the last coming for her 1974 single "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing."
But by 1975, Franklin's sound was fading into the background with the onset of the disco craze, and an emerging set of young black singers, such as Chaka Khan and Donna Summer, began to eclipse Franklin's career. She did, however, find a brief respite from slumping sales with the 1976 soundtrack to the Warner Brothers film Sparkle—which topped the R&B charts and made the Top 20 in pop—as well as an invitation to perform at the 1977 presidential inauguration of Jimmy Carter. In 1978, she also remarried, to actor Glynn Turman.
A string of chart failures ended Franklin's relationship with Atlantic in 1979. The same year, her father was hospitalized after a burglary attempt in his home left him in a coma. As her popularity waned and her father's health declined, Franklin was also saddled with a massive bill from the IRS. However, a cameo in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers helped Franklin revive her flagging career. Performing "Think'' alongside comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd exposed her to a new generation of R&B lovers, and she soon signed to Arista Records.
Her new label released 1982's Jump To It, an album that enjoyed huge success on the R&B charts and earned Franklin a Grammy nomination. Two years later, she endured a divorce from Turman as well as the death of her father.
In 1985, Franklin returned to the top of the charts with a smash-hit album: the polished pop record Who's Zoomin' Who? Featuring the single "Freeway of Love," as well as a collaboration with the popular rock band the Eurythmics, the record became Aretha's biggest-selling album yet. Her follow-up, 1986's Aretha, also charted well and eventually went gold, and her duet with British singer George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),'' hit No. 1 on the pop charts.
In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Detroit. That same year, she released the album One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, which won the Grammy for Best Soul Gospel Performance.
Following another relatively quiet period in her career, in 1993, Franklin was invited to sing at the inauguration of Bill Clinton, and the following year she received both a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Kennedy Center Honors. She would also be the focus of multiple documentaries and tributes as the decade progressed. Nearing its conclusion, Franklin reprised her former role in Blues Brothers 2000, released the gold-selling "A Rose Is Still a Rose" and stood in for Luciano Pavarotti, who was too ill to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award, with her rendition of "Nessun Dorma" commanding stellar reviews.
So Damn Happy
In 2003, Franklin released her final studio album on Arista, So Damn Happy, and left the label to found Aretha Records. Two years later, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and became the second woman ever to be inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, she received her 18th Grammy Award for "Never Gonna Break My Faith"—a collaboration with Mary J. Blige—and was tapped to sing at the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.
With 18 Grammys under her belt, Franklin is one of the most honored artists in Grammy history, ranked among the likes of Alison Krauss, Adele and Beyoncé Knowles. In 2011, Franklin released her first album on her own label, A Woman Falling Out of Love. To support the project, she performed several concerts, including a two-night stint at the famed Radio City Music Hall in New York. With fans and critics alike impressed with her performances, she successfully proved that the Queen of Soul still reigns supreme.
In 2014, Franklin underscored that point with Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, which reached No. 13 on the pop charts and No. 3 R&B. In February 2017, the 74-year-old Queen of Soul told Detroit radio station WDIV Local 4 that she is collaborating with Stevie Wonder to release a new album to be recorded in Detroit and released in September. “I must tell you, I am retiring this year," she said in the interview, adding: "I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now. I’ll be pretty much satisfied, but I’m not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn’t be good either.”
"American history wells up when Aretha sings", president Obama explained his emotional response to her performance of "A Natural Woman" at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors. "Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the African-American spiritual, the blues, R&B, rock and roll--the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope".
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Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo is the second studio album by American singer songwriter, Aretha Franklin, released on February 27, 1961 by Columbia Records. The album is Aretha's first release for Columbia, and is also known under its working title Right Now It's Aretha and sometimes simply as Aretha.[2] Following in the footsteps of her close friend Sam Cooke, Aretha was "discovered" by famed Columbia Records producer John H. Hammond, who on the cover notes of the 1973 edition of "The Great Aretha Franklin: The First 12 Sides" mentions, that she was in fact recommended by the composer Curtis Reginald Lewis. With the support of her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, Aretha ventured out to New York City's Columbia Record Studios to record her debut album for the label. Hammond paired Aretha Franklin with Ray Bryant, and combo and arranger J. Leslie McFarland, while taking charge of the album's production, which was received to mixed reviews.
The album showcases a young Aretha Franklin (only 18 nearly 19 years old, at the time of these recordings), covering a range of jazz and pop standards. Columbia Records couldn't clearly classify Aretha's sound, as either jazz or R&B. Aretha's subsequent albums would show her moving from the realms of both sounds, and audiences as she tries to define her "own soulful sound". Combining a completely natural and uninhibited vocal style with an irresistible rhythmic sense, Aretha Franklin established herself as one of the hottest new performers in show business and one likely to set new standards in the entertainment industry.
Aretha Franklin - Aretha (with the Ray Bryant Combo) (flac 330mb)
01 Won't Be Long 3:22
02 Over The Rainbow 2:38
03 Love Is The Only Thing 2:44
04 Sweet Lover 3:21
05 All Night Long 3:05
06 Who Needs You? 2:49
07 Right Now 2:22
08 Are You Sure 2:40
09 Maybe I'm A Fool 3:16
10 It Ain't Necessarily So 3:08
11 (Blue) By Myself 2:38
12 Today I Sing The Blues 2:45
BoNus
13 Are You Sure (Rehearsal)
14 Who Needs You (Take 9)
15 Right Now (Take 1)
16 Maybe I'm A Fool (Take 4)
17 By Myself [mono mixes]
18 Won't Be Long [mono mixes]
19 All Night Long [mono mixes]
20 Love Is The Only Thing [mono mixes]
21 Right Now [mono mixes]
22 Today I Sing The Blues [mono mixes]
Aretha Franklin - Aretha (with the Ray Bryant Combo) (ogg 138mb)
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"The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin" is the fourth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin, Released on August 13, 1962 by Columbia Records. It was her first album to achieve any commercial success, reaching #69 on the Billboard pop album charts. Unlike its predecessor, however, it did not have a hit single. The album was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios, 799 Seventh Avenue, New York. "Aretha is a natural. No matter what she sings - new songs like Without the One You Love (which she herself wrote) and Don't Cry, Baby or time-tested standards like Try a Little Tenderness and I Apologize - she is completely free, uninhibited and thrilling", Billy James, said. "...Every step of the way, Aretha has grown. She has developed strength, assurance and style. She can be tender and moving, and she can swing. But there are none of the phony "hup's", "hey's" and "ho's" that are used liberally by performers anxious to tell the world that they are swingers. Instead, Aretha uses something else: talent. In a word, is a natural."
Aretha Franklin - The Tender, The Moving, The Swinging Aretha Franklin (flac 273mb)
01 Don't Cry, Baby 3:23
02 Try a Little Tenderness 3:16
03 Apologize 2:53
04 Without the One You Love 2:48
05 Look for the Silver Lining 3:04
06 I'm Sitting on Top of the World 2:42
07Just for a Thrill 2:33
08 God Bless the Child 3:03
09 I'm Wandering 3:27
10 How Deep Is the Ocean 2:48
11 I Don't Know You Anymore 2:50
12 Lover Come Back to Me 2:35
Bonus
13 Trouble In Mind 2:15
14 Without the One You Love 2:46
15 Don't Cry, Baby 3:14
16 I'm Wandering 3:25
17 Try a Little Tenderness 3:14
18 I Apologize 2:52
19 Lover Come Back to Me 2:34
20 I Don't Know You Anymore 2:47
Aretha Franklin - The Tender, The Moving, The Swinging Aretha Franklin (ogg 92mb)
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What were Columbia doing giving this overwhelming powerful young singer, with her roots deep in gospel and the blues, giving her a bunch of standards to sing? I can only guess: I presume Columbia didn’t want Franklin to be labelled a Rhythm and Blues singer, but, like Ray Charles, appeal to an audience that was much broader than the core R&B audience, i.e., to appeal to a white audience who had a greater disposable income. I also presume they didn’t want her to appeal just to kids, who may have bought singles, but were a much smaller market for the more expensive LP. Hindsight tells us there was a major miscalculation here: the great boom in record sales that occurred during the 1960s depended on a growingly prosperous youth market that could now afford LP’s and wanted the new pop, rock, soul, etc., not rehashes of the songs from their parents’ time. But in a way it is the very strangeness of these early Aretha Franklin albums that intrigue.
There can be little doubt that with her later albums for Atlantic Franklin had material that was much more suited to her talents, but the best tracks on this album have a fascination in the tension between the singing style and the songs. Listen to the first track, You Made Me Love You, a song dating back to 1913, which had been popularized by Al Jolson, Judy Garland and Doris Day, amongst others. It is a nice song with a good melody and witty romantic lyrics (i.e., it is a good Tin Pan Alley song); the arrangement is pleasant, the strings are hardly innovative but they are nice enough. And then Franklin hollers it out, her singing full of a heart on the sleeve emotion that sweeps away the pleasant wittiness of the song. Maybe Columbia thought of Franklin as their new Black Judy Garland, belting out her songs in a big theatrical style (on her previous album Franklin has sung Over the Rainbow, and back in 1939 You Made Me Want to Love You had been the B-Side to Garland’s big hit) – but, despite their similarities, Franklin and Garland came out of very different traditions, Franklin, of course, building on the emotional and devotional impact of gospel, a very different sensibility to the white show music of Garland. And, as I said, it is this dislocation between material/arrangement and singing style that both dooms it to failure and yet is fascinating.
Aretha Franklin - The Electrifying Aretha Franklin (flac 284mb)
01 You Made Me Love You 2:18
02 I Told You So 2:43
03 Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody 2:21
04 Nobody Like You 2:20
05 Exactly Like You 2:35
06 It's So Heartbreakin' 2:40
07 Rough Lover 2:52
08 Blue Holiday 2:58
09 Just For You 2:23
10 That Lucky Old Sun 3:37
11 I Surrender, Dear 2:44
12 Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive 2:17
Bonus
13 Introduction To Hard Times 0:31
14 Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I) 3:08
15 When They Ask About You 2:59
16 Operation Heartbreak 2:59
Mono Mixes
17 I Surrender, Dear 2:46
18 Rough Lover 2:47
19 Kissin' By The Mistletoe 2:22
. Aretha Franklin - The Electrifying Aretha Franklin (ogg 108mb)
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Laughing on the Outside is the fifth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin, Released on August 12, 1963 by Columbia Records. The album was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York and Hollywood. These sessions found a 21-year-old Aretha Franklin recording Jazz Music and Pop Music standards, from Johnny Mercer to Duke Ellington. She is backed by the arrangements of Columbia producer Robert Mersey. One of the most popular songs from the album is Aretha's interpretation of the classic "Skylark". A minute and fifty-eight seconds into the song, Aretha sings the word "Skylark" with power and emotion. This was one of the first times in which Aretha recorded one of her written compositions, "I Wonder (Where Are You Tonight)", on an album.
Aretha Franklin - Laughing On The Outside (flac 303mb)
01 Skylark 2:49
02 For All We Know 3:25
03 Make Someone Happy 3:48
04 I Wonder (Where You Are Tonight) 3:16
05 Solitude 3:50
06 Laughing On The Outside 3:14
07 Say It Isn't So 3:05
08 Until The Real Thing Comes Along 3:04
09 If Ever I Would Leave You 4:04
10 Where Are You? 3:50
11 Mr. Ugly 3:22
12 I Wanna Be Around 2:25
Bonus
13 Ol' Man River 4:01
Mono Mixes
14 You've Got Her 2:40
15 Here's Where I Came In 2:53
16 Say It Isn't So 3:08
. Aretha Franklin - Laughing On The Outside (ogg 112mb)
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Today's artist is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She began her career as a child singing gospel at the church of her father, minister C. L. Franklin's church. In 1960, at the age of 18, Franklin embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success. Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, she achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as "Respect", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and "Think". These hits and more helped her to gain the title The Queen of Soul by the end of the 1960s decade. She has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in which she became the first female performer to be inducted. ........ N'joy
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Aretha Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1942. A gifted singer and pianist, Franklin toured with her father's traveling revival show and later visited New York, where she signed with Columbia Records. Franklin went on to release several popular singles, many of which are now considered classics. In 1987, she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2008 she won her 18th Grammy Award, making her one of the most honored artists in Grammy history.
The fourth of five children, Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, to Baptist preacher Reverend Clarence La Vaughan "C. L." Franklin and Barbara Siggers Franklin, a gospel singer. Franklin's parents separated by the time she was six, and four years later her mother succumbed to a heart attack. Guided by C. L.'s preaching assignments, the family relocated to Detroit, Michigan. C. L. eventually landed at New Bethel Baptist Church, where he gained national renown as a preacher.
Aretha Franklin's musical gifts became apparent at an early age. Largely self-taught, she was regarded as a child prodigy. A gifted pianist with a powerful voice, Franklin got her start singing in front of her father's congregation. By the age of 14, she had recorded some of her earliest tracks at his church, which were released by a small label as the album Songs of Faith in 1956. She also performed with C. L.'s traveling revival show and, while on tour, befriended gospel greats such as Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and Clara Ward.
But life on the road also exposed Franklin to adult behaviors, she gave birth to her first son, Clarence, shortly after she turned 14. A second child followed two years later both with unnamed fathers ! (Think of it what you will -, i know i do) After a brief hiatus, Franklin returned to performing and followed heroes such as Cooke and Dinah Washington into pop and blues territory. In 1960, with her father's blessing, Franklin traveled to New York, where after being courted by several labels, including Motown and RCA, she signed with Columbia Records, who released the album Aretha in 1961.
Though two tracks from Aretha would make the R&B Top 10, a bigger success came that same year with the single "Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody," which crossed over to No. 37 on the pop charts. But while Franklin enjoyed moderate results with her recordings over the next few years, they failed to fully showcase her immense talent. In 1966, she and her new husband and manager, Ted White, decided a move was in order, and Franklin signed to Atlantic. Producer Jerry Wexler immediately shuttled Franklin to the studios at the Florence Alabama Musical Emporium.
Backed by the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section—which included session guitarists Eric Clapton and Duane Allman—Aretha recorded the single "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)." In the midst of the recording sessions, White quarreled with a member of the band, and White and Franklin left abruptly. But as the single became a massive Top 10 hit, Franklin re-emerged in New York and was able to complete the partially recorded track, "Do Right Woman—Do Right Man."
Hitting her stride in 1967 and 1968, Franklin churned out a string of hit singles that would become enduring classics, showcasing Franklin's powerful voice and gospel roots in a pop framework. In 1967, the album I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) was released, and the first song on the album, "Respect"—an empowered cover of an Otis Redding track—reached No. 1 on both the R&B and pop charts and won Aretha her first two Grammy Awards. She also had Top 10 hits with "Baby I Love You,'' "Think," "Chain of Fools,'' "I Say a Little Prayer," "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."
Franklin's chart dominance soon earned her the title "Queen of Soul," while at the same time she also became a symbol of black empowerment during the civil rights movement of the time. In 1968, Franklin was enlisted to perform at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during which she paid tribute to her father's fallen friend with a heartfelt rendition of "Precious Lord." Later that year, she was also selected to sing the national anthem to begin the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Amidst this newfound success, Franklin experienced upheaval in her personal life, and she and White divorced in 1969. But this did not slow Franklin's steady rise, and the new decade brought more hit singles, including "Don't Play That Song," "Spanish Harlem" and her cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters." Spurred by Mahalia Jackson's passing and a subsequent resurgence of interest in gospel music, Franklin returned to her musical origins for the 1972 album Amazing Grace, which sold more than 2 million copies and went on to become the best-selling gospel album at the time.
Franklin's success continued throughout the 1970s, as she branched out to work with producers such as Curtis Mayfield and Quincy Jones and expanded her repertoire to include rock and pop covers. Along the way, she took home eight consecutive Grammy Awards for Best R&B Female Vocal Performance, the last coming for her 1974 single "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing."
But by 1975, Franklin's sound was fading into the background with the onset of the disco craze, and an emerging set of young black singers, such as Chaka Khan and Donna Summer, began to eclipse Franklin's career. She did, however, find a brief respite from slumping sales with the 1976 soundtrack to the Warner Brothers film Sparkle—which topped the R&B charts and made the Top 20 in pop—as well as an invitation to perform at the 1977 presidential inauguration of Jimmy Carter. In 1978, she also remarried, to actor Glynn Turman.
A string of chart failures ended Franklin's relationship with Atlantic in 1979. The same year, her father was hospitalized after a burglary attempt in his home left him in a coma. As her popularity waned and her father's health declined, Franklin was also saddled with a massive bill from the IRS. However, a cameo in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers helped Franklin revive her flagging career. Performing "Think'' alongside comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd exposed her to a new generation of R&B lovers, and she soon signed to Arista Records.
Her new label released 1982's Jump To It, an album that enjoyed huge success on the R&B charts and earned Franklin a Grammy nomination. Two years later, she endured a divorce from Turman as well as the death of her father.
In 1985, Franklin returned to the top of the charts with a smash-hit album: the polished pop record Who's Zoomin' Who? Featuring the single "Freeway of Love," as well as a collaboration with the popular rock band the Eurythmics, the record became Aretha's biggest-selling album yet. Her follow-up, 1986's Aretha, also charted well and eventually went gold, and her duet with British singer George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),'' hit No. 1 on the pop charts.
In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Detroit. That same year, she released the album One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, which won the Grammy for Best Soul Gospel Performance.
Following another relatively quiet period in her career, in 1993, Franklin was invited to sing at the inauguration of Bill Clinton, and the following year she received both a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Kennedy Center Honors. She would also be the focus of multiple documentaries and tributes as the decade progressed. Nearing its conclusion, Franklin reprised her former role in Blues Brothers 2000, released the gold-selling "A Rose Is Still a Rose" and stood in for Luciano Pavarotti, who was too ill to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award, with her rendition of "Nessun Dorma" commanding stellar reviews.
So Damn Happy
In 2003, Franklin released her final studio album on Arista, So Damn Happy, and left the label to found Aretha Records. Two years later, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and became the second woman ever to be inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. In 2008, she received her 18th Grammy Award for "Never Gonna Break My Faith"—a collaboration with Mary J. Blige—and was tapped to sing at the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.
With 18 Grammys under her belt, Franklin is one of the most honored artists in Grammy history, ranked among the likes of Alison Krauss, Adele and Beyoncé Knowles. In 2011, Franklin released her first album on her own label, A Woman Falling Out of Love. To support the project, she performed several concerts, including a two-night stint at the famed Radio City Music Hall in New York. With fans and critics alike impressed with her performances, she successfully proved that the Queen of Soul still reigns supreme.
In 2014, Franklin underscored that point with Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, which reached No. 13 on the pop charts and No. 3 R&B. In February 2017, the 74-year-old Queen of Soul told Detroit radio station WDIV Local 4 that she is collaborating with Stevie Wonder to release a new album to be recorded in Detroit and released in September. “I must tell you, I am retiring this year," she said in the interview, adding: "I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now. I’ll be pretty much satisfied, but I’m not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn’t be good either.”
"American history wells up when Aretha sings", president Obama explained his emotional response to her performance of "A Natural Woman" at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors. "Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the African-American spiritual, the blues, R&B, rock and roll--the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope".
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Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo is the second studio album by American singer songwriter, Aretha Franklin, released on February 27, 1961 by Columbia Records. The album is Aretha's first release for Columbia, and is also known under its working title Right Now It's Aretha and sometimes simply as Aretha.[2] Following in the footsteps of her close friend Sam Cooke, Aretha was "discovered" by famed Columbia Records producer John H. Hammond, who on the cover notes of the 1973 edition of "The Great Aretha Franklin: The First 12 Sides" mentions, that she was in fact recommended by the composer Curtis Reginald Lewis. With the support of her father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, Aretha ventured out to New York City's Columbia Record Studios to record her debut album for the label. Hammond paired Aretha Franklin with Ray Bryant, and combo and arranger J. Leslie McFarland, while taking charge of the album's production, which was received to mixed reviews.
The album showcases a young Aretha Franklin (only 18 nearly 19 years old, at the time of these recordings), covering a range of jazz and pop standards. Columbia Records couldn't clearly classify Aretha's sound, as either jazz or R&B. Aretha's subsequent albums would show her moving from the realms of both sounds, and audiences as she tries to define her "own soulful sound". Combining a completely natural and uninhibited vocal style with an irresistible rhythmic sense, Aretha Franklin established herself as one of the hottest new performers in show business and one likely to set new standards in the entertainment industry.
Aretha Franklin - Aretha (with the Ray Bryant Combo) (flac 330mb)
01 Won't Be Long 3:22
02 Over The Rainbow 2:38
03 Love Is The Only Thing 2:44
04 Sweet Lover 3:21
05 All Night Long 3:05
06 Who Needs You? 2:49
07 Right Now 2:22
08 Are You Sure 2:40
09 Maybe I'm A Fool 3:16
10 It Ain't Necessarily So 3:08
11 (Blue) By Myself 2:38
12 Today I Sing The Blues 2:45
BoNus
13 Are You Sure (Rehearsal)
14 Who Needs You (Take 9)
15 Right Now (Take 1)
16 Maybe I'm A Fool (Take 4)
17 By Myself [mono mixes]
18 Won't Be Long [mono mixes]
19 All Night Long [mono mixes]
20 Love Is The Only Thing [mono mixes]
21 Right Now [mono mixes]
22 Today I Sing The Blues [mono mixes]
Aretha Franklin - Aretha (with the Ray Bryant Combo) (ogg 138mb)
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"The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin" is the fourth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin, Released on August 13, 1962 by Columbia Records. It was her first album to achieve any commercial success, reaching #69 on the Billboard pop album charts. Unlike its predecessor, however, it did not have a hit single. The album was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios, 799 Seventh Avenue, New York. "Aretha is a natural. No matter what she sings - new songs like Without the One You Love (which she herself wrote) and Don't Cry, Baby or time-tested standards like Try a Little Tenderness and I Apologize - she is completely free, uninhibited and thrilling", Billy James, said. "...Every step of the way, Aretha has grown. She has developed strength, assurance and style. She can be tender and moving, and she can swing. But there are none of the phony "hup's", "hey's" and "ho's" that are used liberally by performers anxious to tell the world that they are swingers. Instead, Aretha uses something else: talent. In a word, is a natural."
Aretha Franklin - The Tender, The Moving, The Swinging Aretha Franklin (flac 273mb)
01 Don't Cry, Baby 3:23
02 Try a Little Tenderness 3:16
03 Apologize 2:53
04 Without the One You Love 2:48
05 Look for the Silver Lining 3:04
06 I'm Sitting on Top of the World 2:42
07Just for a Thrill 2:33
08 God Bless the Child 3:03
09 I'm Wandering 3:27
10 How Deep Is the Ocean 2:48
11 I Don't Know You Anymore 2:50
12 Lover Come Back to Me 2:35
Bonus
13 Trouble In Mind 2:15
14 Without the One You Love 2:46
15 Don't Cry, Baby 3:14
16 I'm Wandering 3:25
17 Try a Little Tenderness 3:14
18 I Apologize 2:52
19 Lover Come Back to Me 2:34
20 I Don't Know You Anymore 2:47
Aretha Franklin - The Tender, The Moving, The Swinging Aretha Franklin (ogg 92mb)
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What were Columbia doing giving this overwhelming powerful young singer, with her roots deep in gospel and the blues, giving her a bunch of standards to sing? I can only guess: I presume Columbia didn’t want Franklin to be labelled a Rhythm and Blues singer, but, like Ray Charles, appeal to an audience that was much broader than the core R&B audience, i.e., to appeal to a white audience who had a greater disposable income. I also presume they didn’t want her to appeal just to kids, who may have bought singles, but were a much smaller market for the more expensive LP. Hindsight tells us there was a major miscalculation here: the great boom in record sales that occurred during the 1960s depended on a growingly prosperous youth market that could now afford LP’s and wanted the new pop, rock, soul, etc., not rehashes of the songs from their parents’ time. But in a way it is the very strangeness of these early Aretha Franklin albums that intrigue.
There can be little doubt that with her later albums for Atlantic Franklin had material that was much more suited to her talents, but the best tracks on this album have a fascination in the tension between the singing style and the songs. Listen to the first track, You Made Me Love You, a song dating back to 1913, which had been popularized by Al Jolson, Judy Garland and Doris Day, amongst others. It is a nice song with a good melody and witty romantic lyrics (i.e., it is a good Tin Pan Alley song); the arrangement is pleasant, the strings are hardly innovative but they are nice enough. And then Franklin hollers it out, her singing full of a heart on the sleeve emotion that sweeps away the pleasant wittiness of the song. Maybe Columbia thought of Franklin as their new Black Judy Garland, belting out her songs in a big theatrical style (on her previous album Franklin has sung Over the Rainbow, and back in 1939 You Made Me Want to Love You had been the B-Side to Garland’s big hit) – but, despite their similarities, Franklin and Garland came out of very different traditions, Franklin, of course, building on the emotional and devotional impact of gospel, a very different sensibility to the white show music of Garland. And, as I said, it is this dislocation between material/arrangement and singing style that both dooms it to failure and yet is fascinating.
Aretha Franklin - The Electrifying Aretha Franklin (flac 284mb)
01 You Made Me Love You 2:18
02 I Told You So 2:43
03 Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody 2:21
04 Nobody Like You 2:20
05 Exactly Like You 2:35
06 It's So Heartbreakin' 2:40
07 Rough Lover 2:52
08 Blue Holiday 2:58
09 Just For You 2:23
10 That Lucky Old Sun 3:37
11 I Surrender, Dear 2:44
12 Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive 2:17
Bonus
13 Introduction To Hard Times 0:31
14 Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I) 3:08
15 When They Ask About You 2:59
16 Operation Heartbreak 2:59
Mono Mixes
17 I Surrender, Dear 2:46
18 Rough Lover 2:47
19 Kissin' By The Mistletoe 2:22
. Aretha Franklin - The Electrifying Aretha Franklin (ogg 108mb)
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Laughing on the Outside is the fifth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin, Released on August 12, 1963 by Columbia Records. The album was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York and Hollywood. These sessions found a 21-year-old Aretha Franklin recording Jazz Music and Pop Music standards, from Johnny Mercer to Duke Ellington. She is backed by the arrangements of Columbia producer Robert Mersey. One of the most popular songs from the album is Aretha's interpretation of the classic "Skylark". A minute and fifty-eight seconds into the song, Aretha sings the word "Skylark" with power and emotion. This was one of the first times in which Aretha recorded one of her written compositions, "I Wonder (Where Are You Tonight)", on an album.
Aretha Franklin - Laughing On The Outside (flac 303mb)
01 Skylark 2:49
02 For All We Know 3:25
03 Make Someone Happy 3:48
04 I Wonder (Where You Are Tonight) 3:16
05 Solitude 3:50
06 Laughing On The Outside 3:14
07 Say It Isn't So 3:05
08 Until The Real Thing Comes Along 3:04
09 If Ever I Would Leave You 4:04
10 Where Are You? 3:50
11 Mr. Ugly 3:22
12 I Wanna Be Around 2:25
Bonus
13 Ol' Man River 4:01
Mono Mixes
14 You've Got Her 2:40
15 Here's Where I Came In 2:53
16 Say It Isn't So 3:08
. Aretha Franklin - Laughing On The Outside (ogg 112mb)
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