BUFFALO, N.Y. - The publicist for Aretha Franklin says the Queen of Soul died Thursday at her home in Detroit.
Franklin, spent part of her childhood in Buffalo. Her late father, C.L. Franklin was the pastor at Friendship Baptist Church.
When Franklin performed at the Seneca Niagara Casino in 2011, she was greeted by people who knew her from the an east side Buffalo neighborhood when she was just a little girl.
Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but spent many of her pre-teen years in Buffalo's Cold Springs neighborhood.
She sang in the Friendship Baptist Church choir. When her father relocated to Detroit, so did she, but her mother remained in Buffalo, working at Buffalo General Hospital. Young Aretha would visit Buffalo during summer vacations until her mother died in 1952. She is buried at Forest Lawn.
Aretha never forgot Buffalo and would often talk call out Queen City street names that she remembered while performing on stage.
Her life of song led to many awards. Former President Bush presented her with the Medal of Freedom.
Whether she was singing the national anthem, or spelling out R-E-S-P-E-C-T, the woman who belted out "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman" earned respect and her path to stardom came through Buffalo.
Franklin canceled planned concerts earlier this year after she was ordered by her doctor to stay off the road and rest. The 76-year-old announced plans to retire last year, saying she would perform at "some select things."
In 1987, she became the first female to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2008, Rolling Stone named her the greatest female singer ever.
In 2015 when Franklin performed “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” at the Kennedy Center Honors, she brought then-President Barack Obama to tears. After her performance, he said, “Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the African-American spiritual, the blues, R&B, rock and roll the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope.”
She performed at the memorial service for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She sang "Precious Lord, Take My Hand."
