In memoriam: Aretha Franklin

The “Queen of Soul”, Aretha Frankin, has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. The daughter of Baptist minister and civil rights activist C.L. Franklin, she grew up singing in the choir of their Detroit church. Her number-one singles included “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” and “Respect”. In 1987 she was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She inherited her father’s passion for civil rights, offering to post bail for activist Angela Davis after her 1970 arrest. In 2009, she performed at Barack Obama’s first inauguration.