Who is aretha franklins parents

Barbara left her husband in , and moved to Buffalo, New York, where her mother lived. Barbara started a career by working in a music store, and by giving private music lessons. She was also training to be a nurse's aide. Although it was widely reported for years, it has been stated that Barbara Franklin did not abandon her children. According to Salvatore, Barbara Franklin regularly visited Detroit to see her children, and they travelled to Buffalo for summer holidays to stay with her.

See more More from Aretha Franklin. Amidst this newfound success, Franklin experienced upheaval in her personal life, and she and White divorced in Spurred by Mahalia Jackson's passing and a subsequent resurgence of interest in gospel music, Franklin returned to her musical origins for the 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 s, 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. But by , 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.

In she also married actor Glynn Turman. A string of chart failures ended Franklin's relationship with Atlantic in 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 film The Blues Brothers helped Franklin revive her flagging career.

Two years later, she endured a divorce from Turman as well as the death of her father. In 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 Franklin's biggest-selling album yet. In 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.

Following another relatively quiet period in her career, in , 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 , 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.

Blige — and was tapped to sing at the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama. 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 reigned supreme.

On August 12, , it was reported that a "gravely ill" Franklin was bedridden in her Detroit home, surrounded by family and friends. As news of her condition spread, more luminaries paid a visit to express their well wishes, including Wonder and Jesse Jackson.

Four days later, on the morning of August 16, Franklin succumbed to her illness, which her family revealed to be pancreatic cancer. However, it was later reported in one of her handwritten wills, discovered in , that Clarence's father was actually Edward Jordan - whom she went on to have son Edward with in In , aged 14, she had a second child named Edward after his father Edward Jordan.

While Aretha was pursuing her career, her grandmother Rachel and sister Erma took turns raising the children. Her youngest son, Kecalf Cunningham, was born in and is the child of her road manager Ken Cunningham. Aretha married twice, first to Theodore 'Ted' White in aged After a difficult marriage that involved domestic violence, they separated in She then married her second husband, actor Glynn Turman, in , and became stepmother of Turman's three children from a previous marriage.

After their divorce in , Aretha planned to marry longtime companion Willie Wilkerson, but she eventually called the engagement off. Aretha Franklin had a vocal range spanning about four octaves at her peak.

Her vocal range was said to be approximately between G2 and E6, and she had a mostly mezzo-soprano voice.