Aretha Franklin Tickets : Franklin Was Honored As Musicares "person Of The Year "

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is adept at jazz, blues, R&B, and gospel music. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time and the ninth greatest artist of all time.

Franklin is one of the most honored artists by the Grammy Awards, with 18 competitive Grammys and two honorary Grammys. She has 20 #1 singles on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart and two #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Respect" (1967) and "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (1987), a duet with George Michael.

Since 1961, she has scored a total of 45 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. She also has the most million-selling singles of any female artist . Between 1967 and 1982 she had 10 #1 R&B albums more than any other female artist.

In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She was the only featured singer at the 2009 presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

In 2003, after 23 years with Arista, Franklin parted with the company and decided to go on the independent route, forming Aretha's Records two years later. Franklin released a duets compilation album, Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets with the Queen, in 2007.

The album featured the Fantasia duet, "Put You Up on Game", which despite becoming a hit on Urban AC radio, stalled at number 41 on the R&B charts. A year later, Franklin issued her first holiday album, This Christmas, Aretha. After initially being released as a Borders exclusive, it was later released by the DMI label.

In 2008, Franklin was honored as MusiCares "Person of the Year," two days prior to the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, where she was awarded her 18th career Grammy. Franklin was personally asked by then newly-elected President Barack Obama to perform at his inauguration singing "My Country 'tis of Thee".

The memorable hat she wore at the ceremony was donated to the Smithsonian Institution.In 2010, Franklin received an honorary music degree from Yale University.In 2010 and through early 2011, Franklin had told the media she picked actress Halle Berry to play her in the featured role of the legendary singer in a biopic loosely based on Franklin's memoirs, Aretha: From These Roots.

In January 2011, Berry turned down the role saying she felt she had to sing like Aretha to play her. Franklin said she's now setting her sights on singers Fantasia and Jennifer Hudson on getting the lucrative role.

To mark her 50th anniversary in show business, Franklin will finally release her thirty-eighth studio album, Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love, in May 2011, through WalMart. It would be the first release off Franklin's own record label, Aretha's Records, a label she formed in 2005.

Among the album's producers include R. Kelly, whom Franklin spoke of favorably to Wendy Williams when Williams asked what type of current music she was into. Billy Dee Williams is also said to have contributed to the album.

In the past, Franklin mentioned other artists such as Karen Clark Sheard, Faith Hill and Richard Marx also contributing to the album. Ronald Isley is also said to be a contributor as he and Franklin covered the Carole King classic, "You've Got a Friend", first issued on Isley's Mr. I album.

Following her exit from the stage in November and her surgery in December, Franklin announced that she will return to the stage this May, rescheduling all the dates she had to be forced to cancel due to health problems.

In September 2010, Franklin's second eldest son, Edward, was attacked and severely beaten by three people while at a gas station on Joy Road in northwest Detroit.Due to her long-term friendship with Cissy Houston during Houston's time with The Sweet Inspirations who sang background on several of Franklin's songs, Aretha became a godmother to Whitney Houston in the late 1960s.

Houston sang the operatic soprano whoop in the background of Franklin's "Ain't No Way".Franklin was named after her aunts Aretha and Louise.