Nr. 10 – Aretha Franklin

What would this list be without The Queen of Soul? I can’t remember exactly how I got a hold of her music but I guess my brother had something to do with it, though I do know I was hooked from the start. I think I have tortured my family more than once by howling, screaming, “singing” (or whatever one might call it) her songs Respect, Since You’ve Been Gone, Rock Steady, Baby I Love You etc, up in my room while cleaning, doing homework or just singing for fun. I can not recall being one of those who sang much in front of the mirror with a brush in my hand as a microphone. But I danced around a lot and sang while doing other stuff, and mainly to the powerful voice of Aretha Franklin. And man, how I whished I was a black woman with a voice like that when I was a teenager…and I still do sometimes. Why is she cool? I should not have to describe why. She is The Queen of Soul. If you have the time you should look up more clips of her singing live. Her facial expression and body language clarifies why she’s cool. She embodies the black mama-attitude with gestures and all.

Aretha started her musical path by singing Gospel Music, so I had to show a gospel clip even though this is just a sound recording.