SOUL legend Aretha Franklin has died from cancer aged 76, it was confirmed today.<\/p>\n
The Respect singer passed away at her home in Detroit after an eight-year battle with cancer.<\/p>\n
Dubbed the Queen of Soul and considered one of the greatest voices ever, Aretha\u2019s dazzling music career included classic songs (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman and I Say A Little Prayer.<\/p>\n
Rolling Stone magazine named her the greatest singer of all time.<\/p>\n
The mum-of-four died surrounded by loved ones in the town where she was born.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the evening, family released a statement saying she was gravely ill at her home.<\/p>\n
Aretha last performed in November 2017 at the Elton John AIDs Foundation concert in New York.<\/p>\n
She battled exhaustion and dehydration to thrill crowds.<\/p>\n
The music legend started singing in Baptist church as a little girl, where her father was minister.<\/p>\n
Her powerful voice and soulful tone marked her out as a future star.<\/p>\n
She was just 12 years old when she first fell pregnant with son Clarence, and then again aged 14, with son Edward.<\/p>\n
The children\u2019s father was school friend Donald Burk.<\/p>\n
She launched a music career aged 18, but it was in 1967 when she signed with Atlantic Records that her star began to soar.<\/p>\n
Merging gospel, soul and pop, her powerful vocals cemented her place in music history.<\/p>\n
She performed other timeless classics such as Spanish Harlem, Chain of Fools, Rocksteady, Think and I Knew You Were Waiting, a 1987 duet with George Michael.<\/p>\n
Aretha also made memorable appearances in The Blues Brothers movies.<\/p>\n
The singer had battles with her health and weight throughout her life.<\/p>\n
Aretha was diagnosed with an \u2018unspecified illness\u2019, widely reported to be pancreatic cancer, in 2010, forcing her to cancel a string of live shows.<\/p>\n
She was twice married, first to\u00a0Theodore “Ted” White\u00a0aged 19. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The pair separated in 1969 amid claims of domestic abuse towards her.<\/p>\n
She then wed Peyton Place actor\u00a0Glynn Turman\u00a0in 1978 becoming step-mother to his three children.<\/p>\n
They divorced in 1984.<\/p>\n
Singer-actress Jennifer Hudson is set to play Aretha in an upcoming film of her rise to stardom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SOUL legend Aretha Franklin has died from cancer aged 76, it was confirmed today. The Respect singer passed away at her home in Detroit after an eight-year battle with cancer. Dubbed the Queen of Soul and considered one of the greatest voices ever, Aretha\u2019s dazzling music career included classic songs (You Make Me Feel Like) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5731,"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions\/5731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsdayzambia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}