The Powerful Voice of Aretha Franklin

This morning, the world lost a piece of musical history – Aretha Franklin. She passed away at her home in Detroit at 76-years-old after a brave fight with pancreatic cancer.
Franklin’s music inspired many people during a time when our country was in turmoil. Her music became the anthem for the civil rights and feminist movements.
She broke down many barriers, especially when she became the first female artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her songs, filled with true passion, encouraged many generations of people to stop being bystanders and to become upstanders. Franklin’s messages have and will continue to be household lyrics.
Her lyrics also teach us an important lesson about the power of writing. She understood her audience and wrote songs containing messages that people wanted and needed to hear. She might not have communicated through press releases or media pitches, but she found a way through her voice and song writing to get her thoughts out into the world.
Let’s all pay some R-E-S-P-E-C-T to the Queen of Soul.