Has a nickname ever suited anyone as well as “The Queen of Soul” did Aretha Franklin?
Below, we pay respect to some of Franklin’s best and brightest tracks.
So why can’t she walk away?
Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
she asks, like she doesn’t know custom-made for pink Cadillacs and stolen summer afternoons.
If it was explicit for 1967, she was clearly too busy feeling good to care.
The word “Freedom” has never sounded so truly free.
“Ain’t No Way"A ballad as gorgeously hopeless as any lost-cause love can be.
And even if there’s a will, there’s still no way.
“Respect"No disrespect to Otis Redding.
He was right: the track became one of her best-known hits, reaching No.
In the decades since, artists like Kenny Rogers and Van Morrison also famously covered the torch song.
8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Even more impressive: Aretha managed to pull off the performance at the very last minute.
