Aretha's devotion to music, though often interrupted by personal turmoil and tragedy, created a standard that remains unchallenged and unbroken even to this date. She was born on March 25, 1942 in Memphis, Tenessee, to a respected gospel singer and powerful orator who encouraged young Aretha and her sisters to hone their voices and free their spirits.

An untouchable force behind the microphone, Franklin hit a stumbling block when she became a 15-year-old unwed mother. In 1960, Franklin moved to Manhattan, where she began recording demonstration tapes and attracting national attention. After declining offers from Motown and RCA, Franklin was finally snatched up by Columbia Records. When her contract expired in 1966, Atlantic Records signed her. In 1967 Aretha's gospel-charged song, I never loved a man (the way I love you), became a sensation and was the first in a long line of LPs that brought America to its knees.

During the next few years, Franklin burned with passion and intensity, selling millions of albums with Top 20 gospel-crossover hits like Respect, Baby I love you, Chain of Fools, Since you've been gone, Think and The house that Jack built. Perhaps the most stimulating song of its time, Respect, took on several empowering translations during the era of black activism and feminism. A rallying cry for social progress, Respect, won Franklin two Grammy awards and an honorary award from Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Franklin's personal life was anything but peaceful, yet that didn't hamper her barrage of hits. Bridge over troubled water, Don't play that song, Spanish Harlem and Rock steady were just a few of the hits Franklin scored in the early 1970s.

Franklin won Grammy awards every year between 1969 and 1975 but by the end of the '70s her record sales were beginning to dwindle.

Franklin gave her career a kick-start in 1980 with a cameo appearance in The Blues Brothers, a movie that introduced Franklin to a younger audience. That same year she left Atlantic for Arista. The recording studio produced sleek new hits like Freeway of love and Who's zoomin' who in 1985. This was Aretha's first award since 1974.

In 1987, Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, while also winning multiple Grammy Awards. Following a hiatus in which she received the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1995, Aretha released the critically acclaimed A rose is still a rose in 1998. Post 2000, She resumed working on her new CD for Arista, her first in five years. The long awaited project, titled So Damn Happy was finally released during August 2003. The album was praised by critics and loyal fans, and its quality was validated in 2004, as Aretha won her 18th Grammy Award for the song Wonderful (in the best traditional R&B category).

Emulated by numerous aspiring divas, a list that includes recent British phenomenon Joss Stone, the popularity of 'the Queen' still remains intact.

Compiled by Cultural Correspondent