Aretha Franklin net worth
What is Aretha Franklin’s net worth?
Aretha Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and musician who is considered the “Queen of Soul”. Aretha Franklin passed away in 2018 with a net worth of $80 million. This figure includes the value of her portrait, music catalog and royalty stream.
Aretha is best known for her hits like “Respect”, “I Say A Little Prayer” and “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)”. She remains one of the best-selling musicians of all time, having sold over 75 million albums worldwide to date.
early life
Aretha Louise Franklin was born on March 25, 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee. Her mother, Barbara (née Siggers), was a singer and pianist, and her father, Clarence LaVaughn “CL” Franklin, was a Baptist minister and itinerant missionary. She Born in his home at 406 Lucy Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee. Franklin had many siblings. Her parents have four children in addition to the children from their previous relationship. When Franklin was three years old, the family moved to Buffalo, New York, and then permanently to Detroit, Michigan. In Detroit, her father took over as pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church.
Franklin’s parents had a troubled marriage, largely due to her father’s many infidelities, and they eventually separated in 1948. Her mother moved back to Buffalo with Aretha’s half-brother, Vaughan, but still regularly returns to Detroit to visit her other children. However, she died of a heart attack in 1952. As such, Franklin and her siblings were raised by several women in the community, including their grandmother. Franklin attended North High School in Detroit, but dropped out as a sophomore.
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Profession
Franklin began singing at her father’s church at a very young age and began to manage her when she was twelve. He would take her on his “Gospel Caravan” tour, where she would sing at various churches along the way, and he was the one who helped her land her first record deal with JVB Records. Her first single on JVB Records, “Never Grow Old”, was released in 1956, followed by several singles and the album “Spirituals” (1956) that same year. She continued to sing and play gospel music and spent the summer in Chicago on a gospel tour. She even toured with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when she was 16 (she went on to sing at her funeral in 1968). However, when she was eighteen, Franklin decided she wanted to aim for a career in pop music.
Franklin’s father helped her move to New York and also helped her make a demo that would land her on a recording deal with Columbia Records, which signed her in 1960. Her first record with Columbia Records, the single “Today I Sing the Blues”, was released in September 1960 and eventually reached the Top 10 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Sellers chart. Franklin released her first secular album “Aretha: With the Ray Bryant Combo” in January 1961. The album’s single “Won’t Be Long” was her first single on the Billboard Hot 100. She went on to release several albums with Columbia, but struggled to achieve real commercial success while on the label. After her contract with them expired, she moved to Atlantic Records in November 1966. Her first single with Atlantic Records, “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” was a hit and peaked at No. 9 Hot 100 on Billboard, making it her first top 10 hit popular single.
Today, Franklin is probably best known for her hits “Respect,” “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman,” “Chain of Fools,” “No Way,” “Thinking,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water” , and “I say a little prayer”, etc. She was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Franklin received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979 and the Kennedy Center Medal of Honor in 1994. She has won 18 Grammys in a variety of musical genres, as well as two honorary Grammys. Many of her songs have entered the Billboard “Top 40”. 20 of her songs reached #1 on Billboard’s R&B Singles Chart. She is also one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with 75 million records sold worldwide.
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personal life
Franklin is the mother of four children. Her first two children, Clarence Franklin and Edward Delon Franklin, were born to Franklin when she was thirteen and fifteen years old, respectively. They were raised by her grandmother and sister Erma, and Franklin often returned to Michigan to visit them. Her third child, Ted White Jr., was born in 1964 to Franklin and then-husband Theodore “Ted” White. Her youngest child, Kecalf Cunningham, was born in Franklin in 1970 to her road manager, Ken Cunningham.
Franklin was married twice in his life. She married her first husband, Ted White, in 1961. They separated in 1968 and completed their divorce in 1969. Her second husband was actor Glyn Turman. They married in 1978, then separated in 1982 and divorced in 1984. In 2012, she got engaged to longtime partner Willie Wilkerson (they were actually engaged twice before that), but she later called it off.
legacy after death
After Franklin died on August 16, 2018, it was revealed that she owed the IRS between $5 and $8 million. She owns a large portfolio of property, stocks and other assets, which her lawyers began liquidating in May 2019. The value of her image and song catalog is also invaluable, but far less liquid assets.
She reportedly died without a will. Under Michigan law, the value of her property will be divided equally between her four adult sons.
