Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries, and 20 number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in history. She won 18 Grammy Awards, including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (1968–1975), and she is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.
Throughout her career, Franklin received numerous honors. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1987, she became the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2019 awarded Franklin a posthumous special citation “for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades”. In 2020, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Some of the best quotes from Aretha Franklin are listed below.
- “52 years of recording for other people. I thought at this point, it’s time for you to record for yourself. So that way there wouldn’t be so many spoons in the soup. There would just be one Aretha spoon in the soup.” – Aretha Franklin
- “As a parent you try to maintain a certain amount of control and so you have this tug-of-war… You have to learn when to let go. And that’s not easy.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you’re doing. If you’re not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I’m using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I’m happy with that.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Being the Queen is not all about singing and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Better friends than lovers. Sugar can’t you see? You need you and I really need me.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Don’t say Aretha is making a comeback, because I’ve never been away! – Aretha Franklin
- “Everybody wants respect. In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Falling out of love is like losing weight. It’s a lot easier putting it on than taking it off.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I don’t do crazy things – I just don’t.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I don’t feel one’s personal medical condition is everybody’s business. It just isn’t something you advertise, and it’s not open to discussion.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I donate heavily to the church and various churches in the Detroit community and food banks.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don’t know that I’ve ever heard any geniuses.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I sing to the realists. People who accept it like it is.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I think women and children and older people are the three least-respected groups in our society.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I’m a big woman. I need big hair.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I’m the lady next door when I’m not on stage.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I’ve always felt that rock & roll was very, very wholesome.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I’ve been around long enough for people to know who I am and what my contributions are. They know me as more than just an artist. I think they know me as a woman as well.” – Aretha Franklin
- “I’ve never recorded anything I didn’t like.” – Aretha Franklin
- “If a song’s about something I’ve experienced or that could’ve happened to me it’s good. But if it’s alien to me, I couldn’t lend anything to it. Because that’s what soul is all about.” – Aretha Franklin
- “If you disrespect everybody that you run into, how in the world do you think everybody’s supposed to respect you? – Aretha Franklin
- “It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person. It means I’ve done my job.” – Aretha Franklin
- “It’s hard. When you love food, and when you’ve done a high energy concert, you know, a carrot is not gonna work.” – Aretha Franklin
- “It’s very satisfying. To perform the way you want to. And the way you know that you can.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Let’s start with the church. As you know, it’s my background, it’s a natural setting for me and it’s definitely my roots.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Men have always been gentlemen to me – responsible people with healthy attitudes.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Music changes, and I’m gonna change right along with it.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It’s transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It’s uplifting, it’s encouraging, it’s strengthening.” – Aretha Franklin
- “My faith always has been and always will be important to me.” – Aretha Franklin
- “My generation, we came along, we had to really know our craft.” – Aretha Franklin
- “People really don’t have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Politics are not my arena. Music is.” – Aretha Franklin
- “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Sometimes, what you’re looking for is already there.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Soul is a constant. It’s cultural. It’s always going to be there, in different flavors and degrees.” – Aretha Franklin
- “The love of my life? I’m much too young to answer that question.” – Aretha Franklin
- “The man who gets me is getting one hell of a woman.” – Aretha Franklin
- “The milk of kindness flows through my body, I shall follow Jesus to the Taco Bell and give thanks.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Trying to grow up is hurting. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don’t, it hurts even more.” – Aretha Franklin
- “We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It’s our basic human right.” – Aretha Franklin
- “We didn’t have music videos. You weren’t an overnight sensation. You had to work at it and learn your craft: how to take care of your voice, how to pace your concerts, all that trial and error.” – Aretha Franklin
- “When God loves you, what can be better than that?” – Aretha Franklin
- “Who hasn’t had a weight issue? If not the body, certainly the big head!” – Aretha Franklin
- “Women absolutely deserve respect.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Women have broken through the glass ceiling, and they’re now more and more in the power seats.” – Aretha Franklin
- “Yes, I’ve always been fashion conscious.” – Aretha Franklin
- “You cannot define a person on just one thing. You can’t just forget all these wonderful and good things that a person has done because one thing didn’t come off the way you thought it should come off.” – Aretha Franklin
- “You’re a no good heartbreaker, you’re a liar, and you’re a cheat. I don’t know why I let you do these things to me.” – Aretha Franklin
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