Short answers, pulled from the story.
Aretha Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist who lived from the 25th of March 1942 to the 16th of August 2018. She was twice named the greatest singer of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. The title Queen of Soul was bestowed when WVON radio personality Pervis Spann crowned her during a performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago.
Aretha Franklin's signature song is "Respect," originally written by Otis Redding. Her version, released in April 1967, reached number one on both the R&B and pop charts and was later hailed as a civil rights and feminist anthem. Other major hits include "Chain of Fools," "Think," and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."
Aretha Franklin sold more than 75 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists. She won 18 Grammy Awards out of 44 nominations, including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance from 1968 to 1975, plus a Grammy Living Legend Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Aretha Franklin was born at her family's home at 406 Lucy Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, on the 25th of March 1942. The family moved to Buffalo, New York, and then to Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin led the New Bethel Baptist Church.
At the 1998 Grammy Awards, tenor Luciano Pavarotti became too ill to perform the aria "Nessun dorma," so producers asked Aretha Franklin to step in. She had sung the aria two nights earlier at the MusiCares event and agreed to perform it in the tenor range the orchestra was prepared to play. More than one billion people worldwide saw the performance.
Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and received the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2019 she was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for her contribution to American music and culture over more than five decades, the first individual woman to receive one.
Aretha Franklin died at her home in Detroit on the 16th of August 2018 at the age of 76. The cause of death was a malignant pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, which is distinct from the most common form of pancreatic cancer.