Aretha Franklin

She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2001. A fairly complete Guided By Voices discography is available.. In 1986 the Michigan Legislature declared Aretha Franklin's voice to be a precious natural resource. In 2004, during the band's final tour, many cities around the United States proclaimed a certain day to be "Guided by Voices Day" in that city. Some of them include:. Aretha Franklin was sued for breach of contract in 1984 when she was unable to open in the Broadway musical "Sing, Mahalia, Sing," mainly because of her phobia of flying. A 2nd box set of unreleased songs, with the working title of Suitcase II , is planned for December of 2005. She lives today in Detroit. Several GbV works have future plans to be (re)-released, largely on vinyl.

The affair made her guard her private life even more jealously and she gave no interviews for several years after that. His website, www.robertpollard.net offers updates and tentative future releases. A Time Magazine cover story in 1968 led to a lawsuit from Ted White over allegations that he had roughed her up in public. Though the (current incarnation of the) band has separated, Pollard continues to produce solo material. The marriage ended in 1969 and she has always refused to answer questions about it. Guided By Voices played their final show at the Metro in Chicago on December 31, 2004. She married Ted White in 1962 and he became her manager during her years with Columbia Records. They played the single, "Everyone Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)" from the 2004 release, Half Smiles of the Decomposed.

Most critics dismiss her post-Atlantic material as far inferior to the legendary recordings of the mid to late sixties. Their last television appearance was on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on December 2, 2004. Her most notable 1980s hit was the dance song Freeway of Love, which charted in 1985. According to Pollard:. Despite working with artists of the stature of Curtis Mayfield, popularity and critical success waned during the mid to late 1970s and the 1980s, though she scored several hits, often with partners (such as Luther Vandross). In 2004, Pollard announced he was discontinuing Guided By Voices [1] (http://gbv.com/2004gbvannouncement.htm) following the release of the Half-Smiles of the Decomposed LP. Wexler had now left Atlantic and the partnership was over. 2003 saw the release of Earthquake Glue, followed by the box set Hardcore UFOs and the greatest hits compilation Human Amusements at Hourly Rates.

She returned to working with Wexler, but her last Atlantic LP You was released in 1976. In 2002 Guided by Voices returned to Matador and released Universal Truths and Cycles, something of a return to their lo-fi roots. A partnership with Quincy Jones led to a disappointing album in 1973 You. But it still produced a standout track "Angel", written by her sister Carolyn which became a soul classic. Critics were kinder to 2001's Isolation Drills, due in part to producer Rob Schnapf, who was able to help the band capture their live intensity. In the early 1970s, her music mellowed slightly, though losing nothing of its power, and she continued the hugely successful relationship with Wexler and Mardin while beginning to take a greater role in producing her work. The following album, 1997's Mag Earwhig, continued with the band's trademark sound, but in 1999 Pollard left Matador Records, joined TVT Records, and released Do the Collapse, a Ric Ocasek-produced album that attempted a more radio-friendly sound for Guided by Voices, yet one which did not garner significant radio airplay. After the R&B category was added to the Grammy Awards in 1968, she was virtually unchallenged, winning eight successive awards for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance; she later added three more Grammies in this category in the 1980s. Shortly after the '96 release of UTBUTS, Pollard and Sprout had a falling out that resulted in Pollard firing most of the band and starting to work with Cleveland glam rockers Cobra Verde as the new Guided by Voices backing band.

Among her most successful hit singles from this era were "Chain of Fools", "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman", "Think", "Baby I Love You", "The House That Jack Built", and "Respect", a cover of an Otis Redding single which became her signature song. Tobin Sprout was a major contributor during this period, penning a handful of songs on all the albums through 1996. Surprisingly she never made it to number one in the UK pop charts - the best result being a number four with her version of Burt Bacharach's "I Say a Little Prayer" in 1968. The next few years saw the release of Alien Lanes and Under the Bushes, Under the Stars, which, while still maintaining the lo-fi aesthetic (Alien Lanes was mostly recorded on a 4-track), saw their songwriting and performing gradually become more accessible. She released numerous Top Ten hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, dabbling in gospel music, blues music, pop music, psychedelic music and rock and roll, including notable covers of songs by The Beatles ("Eleanor Rigby"), The Band ("The Weight"), Simon & Garfunkel ("Bridge Over Troubled Water"), Sam Cooke and The Drifters. Live at Fillmore West and Amazing Grace were two of her most influential full-length releases, the latter a double LP of live gospel music recorded in a Los Angeles Baptist church. The band soon signed with Matador. Franklin said herself of this period, "When I went to Atlantic, they just sat me down at the piano and the hits started coming.". Formed in Dayton, Ohio in the early 1980s, GbV released several albums on several independent record labels, and in 1994 they had a major release of Bee Thousand with Scat Records; distributed by Matador Records.

By the late 1960s, Franklin had earned the nickname "The Queen of Soul", having become an internationally famous artist and a symbol of pride for the African American community. Many songs are 30 seconds long; often they end abruptly or are intertwined with odd and homemade sound effects. After moving to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin teamed up with producers Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin, resulting in some of the most influential R&B recordings of the 1960s, including "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", a much more soulful and impassioned song than most of her earlier work. GbV has garnered much attention for its prolificacy, with a seemingly endless stream of releases. However her greatest and most innovative work was yet to come. Over the years the band has seen many personnel changes, but always maintained the presence of principal singer/songwriter Robert Pollard, a former school teacher. In the early 1960s, Franklin had a few popular songs, most notably "Rock-a-bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody." However Columbia really wanted her as a jazz singer and the results never gave full rein to Franklin's talents. Drawing from pop, prog rock, punk and British Invasion music, and with lyrics tackling such issues as alien abductions, cinnamon-flavored skulls, latter day saints and twilight camp fighters, Guided by Voices is a part of the American alternative rock scene.

She signed with Columbia Records after being discovered by legendary A&R man John Hammond. Guided by Voices (or GbV) is a lo-fi/indie-rock band. As a child, Franklin and her sisters, Carolyn and Erma, sang at her father's Detroit-area church and made her first recordings at the age 12. Isolation Drills. On January 3, 1987 she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Under the Bushes Under the Stars. Aretha Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is a gospel, soul and R&B singer born in Memphis, Tennessee. Alien Lanes.

2003 So Damn Happy. Bee Thousand. 2002 Aretha's Best. Chicago, Illinois - December 30. 1999 I Dreamed a Dream. New York, New York - December 5. 1998 You Grow Closer. Los Angeles, California - November 12.

1998 A Rose Is Still A Rose. San Diego, California - November 11. 1995 Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington. Dallas, Texas - November 6. 1991 What You See Is What You Sweat. Austin, Texas - November 5. 1989 Through the Storm. Bloomington, Indiana - October 25.

1987 One Faith, One Lord, One Baptism. Newport, Kentucky - October 22. 1986 Aretha. Houston, Texas - October 1. 1986 Soul Survivor. 1985 Who's Zoomin' Who?.

1985 First Lady of Soul. 1984 Aretha's Jazz. 1984 Never Grow Old. 1983 Get It Right.

1982 Jump To It. 1981 Love All the Hurt Away. 1980 Aretha Sings the Blues. 1980 Aretha.

1979 La Diva. 1978 Almighty Fire. 1977 Most Beautiful Songs. 1977 Sweet Passion.

1977 Satisfaction. 1976 Sparkle. 1975 Two Originals. 1975 You.

1974 Let Me in Your Life. 1974 With Everything I Feel in Me. 1973 Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky). 1972 Amazing Grace.

1971 Young, Gifted & Black. 1971 Aretha Live at the Fillmore West. 1970 Spirit in the Dark. 1970 Sweet Bitter Love.

1970 Don't Play That Song. 1970 The Girl's In Love with You. 1969 Soul '69. 1969 I Say a Little Prayer.

1969 Aretha Franklin: Live!. 1968 Aretha in Paris. 1968 Aretha Now. 1968 Lady Soul.

1967 Lee Cross. 1967 Take It Like You Give It. 1967 Aretha Arrives. 1967 I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You).

1965 Once in a Lifetime. 1963 Laughing on the Outside. 1962 The Tender, The Moving, The Swinging Aretha Franklin. 1962 The Electrifying Aretha Franklin.

1956 The Gospel Soul of Aretha Franklin.