FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Aretha Louise Franklin (/əˈriːθə/ ə-REE-thə; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the “Queen of Soul“, she has twice been placed ninth in Rolling Stone‘s “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. With global sales of over 75 million records, Franklin is one of the best-selling music artists from the second half of the 20th century to the present.

Franklin began her career as a child, singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister. At the age of 18, she embarked on a music career as a recording artist for Columbia Records. While her career did not immediately flourish, Franklin found acclaim and commercial success once she signed with Atlantic Records in 1966. Commercial hits such as “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)“, “Respect“, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman“, “Chain of Fools“, “Think“, and “I Say a Little Prayer“, propelled Franklin past her musical peers.

Franklin continued to record acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (1967), Lady Soul (1968), Spirit in the Dark (1970), Young, Gifted and Black (1972), Amazing Grace (1972), and Sparkle (1976), before experiencing problems with the record company. Franklin left Atlantic in 1979 and signed with Arista Records. The singer appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers before releasing the successful albums Jump to It (1982), Who’s Zoomin’ Who? (1985) and Aretha (1986) on the Arista label. In 1998, Franklin returned to the Top 40 with the Lauryn Hill-produced song “A Rose Is Still a Rose“; later, she released an album with the same name.

Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on the US Billboard charts, including 73 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and 20 number-one R&B singles. Besides the foregoing, the singer’s well-known hits also include “Ain’t No Way“, “Call Me“, “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)“, “Spanish Harlem“, “Rock Steady“, “Day Dreaming“, “Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)“, “Something He Can Feel“, “Jump to It“, “Freeway of Love“, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who” and “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” (a duet with George Michael). Franklin won 18 Grammy Awards, including the first eight awards given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (1968–1975), a Grammy Awards Living Legend honor and Lifetime Achievement Award.

Franklin received numerous honors throughout her career. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1987, she became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She also was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked Franklin number one on its list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”. In 2019, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded the singer a posthumous special citation “for her indelible contribution to American music and culture for more than five decades”. In 2020, Franklin was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

My compost pile smells terrible, even in winter. What can I do to get rid of the odor?If your compost is a little, um, fragrant, you have what’s called an anaerobic condition, which is decomposition without oxygen. To eliminate the odor, you need to do two things. First, turn the compost to get more air in there. Second, add material with a high carbon content, such as shredded newspaper, sawdust, twigs, or even wood chips.

Advice of the Day

If you trip while going upstairs, money is coming your way.

Home Hint of the Day

If the wooden handle on a hammer or ax is loose, immerse the head in a bucket of cold water overnight. In the morning, dry the head to prevent rust, then soak it for 12 hours in a solution of half turpentine and half boiled linseed oil.

Word of the Day

BilgeThe protuberant part of a cask, which is usually in the middle. Also the part of a ship’s hull or bottom which is broadest and most nearly flat.

Puzzle of the Day

How could the letter G surprise a farmer?By changing oats into goats.

Born

• Ethan Allen (patriot) – 1738
• John Fitch (inventor) – 1743
• Thomas Stonewall” Jackson” (Confederate Army general) – 1824
• Christian Dior (fashion designer) – 1905
• Jack Nicklaus (golfer) – 1940
• Plácido Domingo (tenor) – 1941
• Billy Ocean (singer) – 1950
• Robby Benson (actor) – 1956
• Geena Davis (actress) – 1956
• Hakeem Olajuwon (basketball player) – 1963
• Jacob Smith (actor) – 1990

Died

• Calixa Lavallée (composer) – 1891
• George Orwell (author) – 1950
• Cecil B. DeMille (director) – 1959
• James Beard (chef & food writer) – 1985
• Jack Lord (actor) – 1998
• Peggy Lee (singer) – 2002
• Terry Jones (member of the Monty Python comedy troupe) – 2020

Events

• First American novel, The Power of Sympathy, published in Boston.– 1789
• Louis XVI of France was beheaded– 1793
• New York City’s Sullivan Ordinance made it illegal for women to smoke in public places– 1908
• Kiwanis International founded– 1915
• Song Over the Rainbow, by Arlen and Harburg, copyrighted– 1939
• First commercial extraction of magnesium from seawater began, in Freeport, Texas– 1941
• U.S.S. Nautilus, world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, was launched– 1954
• President Jimmy Carter issued a pardon for Vietnam War draft evaders– 1977
• Pittsburgh Steelers won their third Super Bowl– 1979
• Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame– 1987

Weather

• Sacramento, California, had a high of only 19 degrees F– 1854
• Deadly avalanche occurred at Twin Lakes in Colorado– 1962
• Caesars Head, South Carolina, experienced a cold temperature of -19 degrees F– 1985
• As much as 3.5 inches of snow fell in Tokyo, Japan– 2006
• A 3-day, 81-tornado outbreak in the Southeast United States began– 2017

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