Aretha Franklin, America's Queen, Has Merged With The Infinite

According to reports, Aretha Franklin, beloved Queen of Soul and American icon, has passed.

For more than 48 hours, news had circulated that she'd entered the hospital and was with loved ones, and thus I spent last night listening to a lengthy playlist of Franklin's "hits".  I hope that was a good way to keep her in our thoughts.

I can think of few other performers as universally beloved as Aretha Franklin.  Clearly she's one of the last performers multiple generations will have agreed upon and understood as emblematic of Soul, R&B and what the voice can bring and how it can have personality and tell a story.  Even when covering an already popular song, Franklin made it her own.

Thanks to her 1980's pop-star status (I know!) I well knew who Franklin was by the time I was 12 and watched The Blues Brothers for the first time.



And, yeah, I couldn't have been happier than to see Franklin on the dais at the 2009 presidential inauguration.



You can read the various reports and obituaries today and in the days to come.  I'll just post a few songs to enjoy.








Here she is performing Nessun Dorma.