Aretha Franklin has died at the age of 76.
The Queen of Soul passed away on Thursday at her home in Detroit after a battle with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Her longtime publicist Gwendolyn Quinn said Aretha was surrounded by family and loved ones when she died at 9.50am.
A statement issued on behalf of the family said: “In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart. We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds.
“We have been deeply touched by the incredible outpouring of love and support we have received from close friends, supporters and fans all around the world. Thank you for your compassion and prayers.
“We have felt your love for Aretha and it brings us comfort to know that her legacy will live on. As we grieve, we ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time.”
Funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days.
Aretha was the undisputed Queen of Soul with a career spanning seven decades, whose feminist anthem Respect is considered by many to be one of the greatest songs of all time.
She has sold more than 75 million records worldwide and won a large number of awards, including 18 Grammys, and she was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
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The star was born Aretha Louise Franklin in Memphis, Tennessee on March 25 1942 to travelling Baptist preacher Clarence LaVaughn “CL” Franklin and mother Barbara, an accomplished singer and pianist.
Aretha’s family relocated to Detroit, Michigan while she was still an infant.
Her father led the city’s New Bethel Baptist Church, which became a centre for the civil rights movement.
Following her parents’ separation, Aretha’s mother moved to Buffalo in New York but she would frequently visit her children in Detroit. Barbara died weeks before Aretha’s 10th birthday.
At age 12 Aretha had the first of her four sons, Clarence, named after her father, and her second child Edward followed two years later.
Aretha’s father became famous for his emotionally charged sermons, becoming known as “the man with the million-dollar voice”.
Her childhood home was frequented by celebrities including civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr and singer Sam Cooke, while gospel singer Mahalia Jackson helped to take care of Franklin and her siblings following her mother’s death.
Aretha’s love and knack for all things musical started early on in her life, when she learned how to play the piano by ear and singing in church.
Her father became her manager and she joined him on his tours of churches across the country.
She released her first studio album, Songs Of Faith, in 1956 when she was 14 years old.
At the age of 18 Aretha told her father she wanted to start singing and recording pop music.
She was signed by Columbia who released her first single on the label Today I Sing The Blues in 1960.
Her first single to land on America’s main industry chart came the following year with Won’t Be Long, but it was in the latter half of the decade that Aretha’s commercial success really soared.
She opted to move to Atlantic Records from Columbia in 1966 and the following year she scored her first top 10 hit with I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You).
Her album of the same name also featured her signature number, a rendition of Otis Redding’s Respect, which topped the chart.
The song became widely considered as a feminist and civil rights anthem, and today still remains one of her most beloved songs.
The singer had a string of popular hits in the late 1960s including (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Chain Of Fools, Baby I Love You, and her version of I Say A Little Prayer by Dionne Warwick.
In June 1968, she appeared on the cover of Time magazine and earned the first of her 18 Grammy awards for Respect. She would be recognised at the Grammys with a lifetime achievement award in 1994.
Aretha’s success continued into the 1970s with hits such as Spanish Harlem and Rock Steady.
She recorded an album of gospel material called Amazing Grace which sold millions.
The decade ended with her receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In the 1980s Aretha had left Atlantic, but she scored her first platinum-selling recorded in 1985 with her 33rd studio effort Who’s Zoomin Who?
During her career Aretha performed duets with the likes of her goddaughter Whitney Houston, Elton John, George Michael and Frank Sinatra.
Aretha performed publicly for numerous world leaders including the Queen and at former US President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
She was married twice, first to guitarist Theodore “Ted” White with whom she had her third son Ted White Jr, who would later perform as a guitarist in Franklin’s touring band.
Her marriage to White ended in divorce after eight years. Aretha had her fourth child Kecalf by tour manager Ken Cunningham in 1970.
In 1978 she married actor Glynn Turman at her father’s church and the pair split in 1984.
She was twice engaged to long-term partner Willie Wilkerson, with the most recent being called off in 2012.
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In recent years, Aretha suffered from ill health and was forced to cancel a number of live shows.
In 2011 she said in an interview with the Associated Press that doctors told her that surgery she had for an unspecified tumour would “add 15 to 20 years” to her life.
She cancelled two concerts last year on doctors’ orders, including a show in Newark, New Jersey that would have taken place on her 76th birthday.
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