Later known as “The Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin started out in Memphis, Tennessee. She was born March 25, 1942 and her father (C. L. Franklin) was an itinerant preacher who preached the gospel wherever he could. The family moved around a lot and they finally ended up in Detroit where Franklin got a job at the New Bethel Baptist Church. Her mother left the family when Aretha was young and Pastor Franklin raised her and her three siblings. Aretha started singing in church and a career was made.

Her first recording was a gospel album; “Spirituals” which she recorded in her father’s church when she was only fourteen in 1956. “Spirituals” was only issued locally in Detroit on a local label J.V.B. It would later be re-mastered and released with additional material on the Checker label in 1964. It was then called “The Gospel Soul of Aretha Franklin”

She signed onto Columbia Records and stayed with them for awhile, having some success. Her very first single to chart on the Top 40 was “Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody” which was recorded on Columbia. But Columbia wasn’t the right label for Aretha. She needed to be on a label that understood soul music and supported the black singers of the Sixties. So, she moved over to Atlantic and immediately had much more success. “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You)” hit number nine and then she recorded “Respect.”

The late great Otis Redding wrote and recorded this song, but it was Aretha that really made it live. She added the spelling R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Otis didn’t do that. And Otis was asking his woman for respect. It’s a whole different ball game when it’s the woman who is asking for respect. She had turned it into a feminist anthem. Backing up Aretha on the record are her two sisters Erma and Carolyn Franklin. Both of these girls had recording careers of their own, but, of course, nothing like Aretha’s.

The song earned Aretha her first two Grammy Awards for “Best Rhythm & Blues Recording” and “Best Female R&B Vocal Performance”. She went on in 1967 to hit the Top 10 three more times with “Baby, I Love You” (#4), “A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like)” (#8) and “Chain of Fools” (#2).

Even though “Respect” was sung as a song between a man and a woman, the song took on a life of its own and seemed to apply to the entire civil rights movement of the Sixties. Aretha was telling the world that not only did women deserve respect, but the entire black race deserved respect.

“Respect” entered the charts on May 6, 1967, rocketed to the top of the charts and stayed there for two weeks.

As huge as Aretha Franklin was, it would be twenty years (1987) before she would have another number one song on the pop charts.