Famous American singer and songwriter Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul”, passed away this Thursday morning at her home in Detroit at the age of 76.
Franklin, who is regarded as one of the greatest singers of all time, lost a long battle to pancreatic cancer; the artist had announced her retirement from the stages last year, her last live show was in November 7, 2017 when she performed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City during Elton John’s 25th anniversary gala for Elton John’s Aid Foundation.

She began her singing career in her teenage years as a gospel star; she recorded hundreds of songs and 20 reached the first position on the R&B charts. Some of her most popular hits include: “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)”; “Respect”; “I Say a Little Prayer”, “Freeway of Love”; I Knew You Were Waiting for Me”, “Chain of Fools”, to mention just a few.

Her last record release was in 2014, “Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics”, where Franklin sings ten songs previously recorded by other female artists, among them “I Will Survive”, “Midnight Train to Georgia”, “Nothing Compares to You” and “I’m Every Woman”.

Aretha Franklin was the recipient of the U.S.A.’s highest civilian honor, The Presidential Medal Of Freedom, her website details: “an eighteen GRAMMY Award winner – the most recent of which was for Best Gospel Performance for “Never Gonna Break My Faith” with Mary J. Blige in 2008 – a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement and GRAMMY Living Legend awardee, Aretha Franklin’s powerful, distinctive gospel-honed vocal style has influenced countless singers across multi-generations, justifiably earning her Rolling Stone magazine’s No. 1 placing on the list of “The Greatest Singers Of All Time”,

The Queen of Soul celebrated having her 100th R&B-charted single with “Rolling In The Deep (The Aretha Version),” making her the first woman and fourth artist in history to have done so.

Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade—our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect. May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace. pic.twitter.com/bfASqKlLc5

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 16, 2018

Let’s all take a moment to give thanks for the beautiful life of Aretha Franklin, the Queen of our souls, who inspired us all for many many years. She will be missed but the memory of her greatness as a musician and a fine human being will live with us forever. Love Paul pic.twitter.com/jW4Gpwfdts

— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) August 16, 2018