Aretha Franklin [music]

Calvin

Welcome to Headstones and Microphones where we use AI to step into the past through a researched, first-person simulation of history's most interesting people. I am your host, Calvin. While we’ve added some creative storytelling, our goal is to inspire your own study of these fascinating lives. Now, let’s meet our guest.

Calvin

For those who may somehow not know who you are... who are you?

black female guest

Most folks out there know me as the "Queen of Soul," but you can just call me Aretha Franklin. I spent my life singing my heart out, sitting at the piano, and trying to bring a little bit of truth and rhythm to the world.

Calvin

It is an incredible honor to have you, Queen! Let's take it back to the very beginning. When and where were you born?

black female guest

I was born on March 25, 1942, right in a little house on Lucy Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee.

Calvin

What was your given name at birth?

black female guest

My mother and father named me Aretha Louise Franklin.

Calvin

What was your hometown like growing up?

black female guest

Even though I drew my first breath in Memphis, my family moved when I was very little. We spent a brief moment in Buffalo, New York, but by the time I was five years old, we relocated to Detroit, Michigan. That is the place I truly call my hometown. Growing up in Detroit back then was spectacular. I grew up in a beautiful neighborhood on Boston Boulevard, and it was a total hotspot for music and community. Smokey Robinson lived right down the street from me, and the neighborhood spawned geniuses like Diana Ross, the Four Tops, and Jackie Wilson. You could just feel the creativity in the air.

Calvin

That neighborhood sounds like absolute music history royalty! What was your family life like?

black female guest

It was a very big, very musical household, but it was marked by some real sorrow early on. My father was the Reverend C. L. Franklin, and he was the minister at the New Bethel Baptist Church. People called him the man with the “million-dollar voice” because his spoken sermons were so emotionally driven and powerful. My beautiful mother, Barbara, was an accomplished pianist and vocalist herself. Sadly, my parents separated when I was around six, and my mother moved back to Buffalo. Then, right before my tenth birthday, she passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. It was a heavy loss for a young girl.

Calvin

I am so sorry you had to go through that so young. What kind of kid were you?

black female guest

Oh, I was a quiet but deeply determined child, Calvin. Music was my entire world. Because of my father's immense fame as a preacher, our home was constantly filled with the greatest musical superstars of the era. I’m talking about legends like Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, and James Cleveland just walking through our living room! I was regarded as a bit of a child prodigy because I was largely self-taught. I didn't care much for regular piano lessons; I preferred to sit at the keys and figure out how to play completely by ear. By the time I was nine or ten, I was standing up in front of my father's congregation singing my very first solos.

Calvin

What did you dream of becoming as a child?

black female guest

From the moment I started singing in the church choir, I knew music was my calling. At first, my world was entirely gospel. I watched powerhouse women like Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward—who actually helped take care of us after my mother died—and I wanted to move people the way they did. Later on, when I was a teenager, I heard my idol Sam Cooke cross over into popular music, and that opened up a whole new dream for me. I realized I wanted to take that deep, soulful gospel feeling and bring it to the secular pop charts.

Calvin

What was your first job?

black female guest

My first real job was traveling on the road as part of my father's "gospel caravan" tours when I was only twelve years old. I would travel from church to church across the country, playing the piano and singing. It was hard work for a young girl, but it was the ultimate training ground. By the time I was fourteen, I recorded my very first tracks live at my father's church, which were released as an album called Songs of Faith.

Calvin

What was your biggest break?

black female guest

Well, my early years recording for Columbia Records in the first half of the 1960s were wonderful because I got to experiment with jazz, pop, and blues. But my definitive, life-altering break came when I signed with Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records in 1967. He took me down to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, put me right back at the piano, and let me unleash my true gospel roots. That's when we recorded "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," and, of course, our own version of Otis Redding's "Respect." That shifted everything.

Calvin

"Respect" is an anthem for the ages. What were your biggest struggles before success?

black female guest

Traveling on those early gospel tours as a young teenager was incredibly tough. We were driving through the segregated South, dealing with the ugly realities of racism, trying to find places to eat and sleep where we would be safe. On top of that, navigating the music business at a young age while trying to find my own authentic artistic voice took a lot of trial and error.

Calvin

Who had the biggest influence on your life?

black female guest

Personally and spiritually, it was my father. He gave me my platform and taught me how to put real emotion into a delivery. Musically, it was Clara Ward and Mahalia Jackson. Clara Ward had this electrifying presence and style that completely captivated me when I was a young girl, and Mahalia’s voice was like the voice of heaven itself.

Calvin

When and where and how did you pass away and how old were you?

black female guest

I passed away from pancreatic cancer on August 16, 2018, at the age of 76. I was at my home in Detroit, Michigan, surrounded by my family.

Calvin

What’s a random fact about you most people have never heard?

black female guest

A lot of folks might not know that I was a massive foodie and absolutely loved to cook! For most of my life, my absolute favorite comfort food was chitterlings—or chitlins, as we call them. I used to cook them myself, slow-boiling them with cloves, red pepper, and bay leaves for hours, and I’d serve them with hot-water cornbread, greens, and ham. I even used to joke about it on stage! After a powerhouse performance in 1971, I told the audience, "Good thing I ate chitlins this morning!" Later in life, I had to take them off the menu for my health and blood pressure, but oh, I loved to whip up a good Southern soul food dinner. I even shared my special "Chicken Italiano" recipe with Martha Stewart!

Calvin

That sounds absolutely delicious, Queen! Aretha, do you have any closing remarks about the interview or the stories you shared that you would like to share with the listeners before signing off?

black female guest

I just want to tell everyone to always stand up for yourself, hold your head high, and demand the respect you deserve in this life. Keep a little soul in your heart. Thank you so much for having me on the show, Calvin. It has been a beautiful time sharing these memories with you.

Calvin

Wow, what an absolute privilege to spend time with the Queen of Soul. From her roots in Detroit to defining an entire generation of music and civil rights, Aretha Franklin showed the world what true talent and power sound like. And that wraps up another conversation from beyond the grave. Thanks for joining us on The Headstones and Microphones Podcast. Remember—legends may die, but their stories never do. Please help spread the word by sharing and following the pod.