Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American (United States) singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as The Queen of Soul. Although renowned for her soul (Soul music) recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock (rock and roll), blues, pop (Pop music), R&B (Rhythm and blues) and gospel music. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Franklin No. 1 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time.

Franklin is one of the most honored artists by the Grammy Awards, with 18 competitive Grammys to date, and two honorary Grammys. She has scored a total of 20 No. 1 singles on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs), one of which also became her first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100: "Respect (Respect (Aretha Franklin song))" (1967). "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" (1987), a duet with George Michael, became her second No. 1 on the latter chart. Since 1961, Franklin has scored a total of 45 "Top 40" hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In 1987, Franklin became the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Franklin was the only featured singer at the 2009 presidential inauguration (Inauguration of Barack Obama) for Barack Obama.