Aretha Franklin Passes Away At 76

The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, has died at the age of 76.

Franklin's representative announced on Monday that the singer was "gravely ill". The singer spend her final days in her Detroit home, where her family gathered by her beside to say their goodbyes.

The legendary singer was diagnosed with cancer in 2010, giving her most recent performance at the Elton John AIDS Foundation party in New York in November of last year.

Over her vast career, Aretha has won 18 Grammy awards and sold more than 75 million records.

A Legacy Like No Other

Franklin wasn't just a master of soul. She was a - for reinvention. When gospel failed her, she turned to pop. When pop fans no longer wanted her, she transformed into a movie star. Franklin never let an audience's attention waver. She consistently found new ways to make herself relative and fresh.

She was a musical chameleon. Even surprising her fans by dipping her toe into urban/R&B scene in the early 2000s. Whilst her memory will be forever encapsulated by her signature tracks 'Respect', 'Think', and 'You Make Me Feel' - it is her resilience and star-power that should truly be remembered.

She smashed down barriers which held back female musicians for years, including become the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the second woman to be inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame.

Her image is cemented within pop culture. From her extravagant fur coats to her signature beehive do, Franklin is regarded as one of the ultimate diva's of the music world. There's no dying the legacy that Franklin has left behind. Her voice was once declared "a natural resource" for Michigan due to her powerful mezzo-soprano quality.

Franklin was born in 1942 in rural Tennessee. Her father was a well known preacher, while her mother taught piano lessons. Her earlier years were spent moving between Memphis to Buffalo, New York to Detroit - putting up with her feuding parents, poverty and being a black girl in the Deep South.

She would later be called ""the voice of the civil rights movement, the voice of black America" and a "symbol of black equality" due to her outspoken activism about racism in the United States. For young women, she represented as a beacon of pride. It was her interpretation of the song 'Respect' which perfectly commented on the social issues that plagued America at the time. Women who struggled to participate in the Civil Rights Movement, suddenly felt like Franklin was sending a statement - that she had reignited a fire for women everywhere to stand up and fight for change.

It wasn't just civil rights Franklin fought for. She even gave the occasional nod to LGBT rights - stapled by her performance at a gay wedding in 2011.

Her Beginnings

After her mother's death, she began singing in her local Church, and learned to play the piano by ear. By the age of 14 she found herself signed to J.V.B Records where she released her first album Songs of Faith . Her teenage years were spent touring with various soul groups, and it wasn't until she developed a hapless crush on Sam Cooke that she even considered a pop career. After signing with a new label she released the song 'Today I Sing The Blues' which became her first well-known hit.

After that, she released jazz-inspired hits like - 'One Step Ahead', 'Cry Like a Baby', and "Rock a By Your Baby With A Dixie Melody". Despite Franklin's incandescent stage presence and power-house vocals, audiences failed to take notice. Franklin once again parted ways with a label.

However, she soon became scooped up by Atlantic Records - a partnership which would sent her soaring into ultimate stardom.

A Star Is Born

Her record I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You became one of her most successful albums ever, scoring two top ten singles in 1967 with the monstrously successful "Respect" and the classic belter "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman".

Soon after, Franklin became unstoppable with songs like 'Think' and 'Chain of Fools'.

In 1971, Franklin became the first R&B performer to headline Fillmore West, and one of the first African American female performers. Franklin showed no sign of stopping with the album Amazing Grace which became the best-selling gospel album of all time.

Though with the 1970s came the Dawn of the Disco era - a direct opponent to Franklin's signature musical style and image. Franklin quickly saw a drip in her album sales and audience members. Any attempts Franklin made at the popular new genre failed miserably.

Her quest for love also faced many low points. Despite her most famous songs detailing love affairs and whirlwind romances, Franklin was unlucky in love - with two marriages ending in divorce, mainly due to Frankin's touring schedule.

So instead, Franklin did the unexpected. She took a break from music and dove headfirst into a film career. Appearing in the 1980s cult classic, The Blues Brothers allowed audiences to fall in love with her all over again - leading to another Grammy awarded album, Love All The Hurt Away .

As disco faded away and pop ushered in heavily synthesized power ballads, Franklin found her groove, releasing 'Whose Zoomin' Who?' to stellar reviews. Her duet on 'I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me(' with George Michael became her first #1 single since 'Respect'.

As her pop career waned, she once again sought a reinvention, appearing on numerous movie soundtracks - most famously Sister Act .

The Diva

As the millennium turned, Franklin had well earned her stripes as one of the world's most acclaimed performers. She performed at Obama's inauguration ceremony, sending the President into a fit of tears. Her final album A Brand New Me featured archived recordings from her career, reaching #5 on the Billboard Top Classical Albums charts.

Throughout her career, the singer faced numerous health issues, including fluctuating weight and illnesses. However despite her declining health over the last number of years, she continued to deliver show-stopping performances.

From her 2015 acclaimed appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors where she showed up to honor Carole King, to her delivery of the National Anthem on Thanksgiving 2016 at the game between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, Franklin never failed to put on a show.

Her star power was even too much for her to handle at times with her infamously singing over Celine Dion during a VH1 Diva show.

She upheld her diva status, regularly providing fans with countless shady moments to fawn over. When asked her opinion of Nicki Minaj, she simply rolled her eyes and said "I'll pass on that one", whereas the only compliment she could find to give Taylor Swift was her aptitude for fashion ("Gowns. Beautiful gowns").

She was one of the original divas. She was the true master of soul. She is the Queen.