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Aretha Franklin, Beloved Queen of Soul, Is Gravely Ill at Age 76

August 13, 2018, 12:23 AM

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Aretha Franklin at Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration.

Aretha Franklin the homegrown star who earned the title "Queen of Soul," is gravely ill at her suburban Detoit home, Roger Friedman of Showbiz 411 reports: 

Originally diagnosed with cancer in 2010, Aretha, who turned 76 in March, bravely battled back and refused to be knocked out by illness. Her last performance as on November 2, 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York.

Her final public performance was at Philadelphia’s Mann Center in August 2017. It was a miraculous show as Aretha was already then fighting exhaustion and dehydration.

Aretha is surrounded by family and people close to her. She will be so missed as a mother, sister, friend, cousin. But her legacy is larger than life. It’s not just that Rolling Stone called her the Number 1 singer of all time, or that she is the Queen of Soul. Long live the Queen.

The Detroit News reports that nationally syndicated radio host Tom Joyner, a close friend of Franklin's, announced this morning the 18-time Grammy winner has been in hospice care for a week.

As a child, Franklin began singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was minister.


Read more:  Showbiz 411


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