Aretha Franklin – Net Worth, Money and More
NET WORTH: $ 60 MILLION
SOURCE OF INCOME:
Aretha Franklin has earned her riches being an award-winning singer, songwriter, and pianist.
CHILDHOOD
Aretha Franklin was born on March 25, 1942 in Memphis, TN. She spent her childhood days in Detroit, Michigan. Her mother Barbara (née) Siggers was an accomplished pianist and vocalist and her father Clarence LaVaughn Franklin was an itinerant preacher originally from Shelby, Mississippi. The family later shifted to Buffalo, New York when Aretha was just two years old small baby. Before her fifth birthday, the family was permanently shifted to Detroit, Michigan. There her father founder the Baptist Church. Her parents split up when Aretha was six and the reason for the split has been rumored around her father spreading the divine message and concentrating more of his time on that.
When Aretha was ten years old, her mother passed away due to a severe heart attack. Aretha was raised by her father alone, who was a well known preacher. He used to travel here and there and couldn’t give much required attention towards Aretha which resulted into her being a mother of two children when she was just sixteen! She never identified the father for those two children.
Aretha became well-known for her fabulous voice and she was also a finest pianist. She signed a contract with Battle Records when she was fourteen. As days passed, she slowly changed from her gospel genre into pop music.
CAREER IN MUSIC AND SUCCESS:
Aretha began her career in music by singing hymns at her father’s church. Her debut solo was “Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me”. She was then just 10 years at that time and four yeas passed by the same way giving her exposure and fame in and around the city. She was then fourteen and her father started to manage and take her with him during his “Gospel Caravan” tours. She got opportunities to perform in various churches.
She signed her first recording deal with JVB Records and her debut album, Songs of Faith was released in 1956. She later sang “Never Grow Old” and “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”, the two singles which were released to gospel radio stations. When she was 18, Aretha aspired to follow Sam Cooke with whom she was singing during her tours with The Soul Stirrers. She then recorded two songs as demo produced by her father who agreed by her decision and helped her. She later traveled with her father to New York City in 1960 and the songs were later brought to the attention of Columbia Records and she was signed by them.
Aretha later recorded nine albums from 1961 to 1966 which displayed her pure artistic work, creativity and talent through a variety of settings. She slowly shifted herself from pop to R&B flavored work at Columbia Records which was later followed by her a lot when she was hired by Atlantic in 1966. Her fabulous songs include “Cry Like A Baby,” Van McCoy’s “Sweet Bitter Love” and magnificent sides like “(No, No) I’m Losing You” and “One Step Ahead”. Albums such as Soul Sister, Take It Like You
Give It and Take A Look became hugely popular with Aretha’s mind blowing compositions.
Aretha started performing more and more with more frequency than ever before which also led to her entry in television shows more often. She was awarded with her first Grammy Awards in 1968 during her European visit. There was no stopping for Aretha in her highly successful musical career.
In 1980, Aretha was made to sign a deal with Arista Records. Her first album with Arista, “United Together was the Number 3 R&B hit. The title track of her next album “Jump to It” was her first single in the top 40 of the pop charts. Her fourth album with Arista “Who’s Zoomin’ Who” was certified with a platinum and over a million copies were sold. She even performed during President Barrack Obama’s inaugural ceremony in January 2009. In 2011 she also started her own label called Aretha’s Records through which she released her album “Aretha: A Woman Falling Out Of Love”.
PERSONAL LIFE, RELATIONSHIPS AND CHILDREN:
Aretha has a very strange and mystic personal life. She so far has four sons. Clarence and Edward are her first two children both born in 1955 and 1957 respectively. The birth of her first two boys at such an early age is rumored to have been the result of Aretha spending most of her time traveling. She never identified the father of Clarence and Edward. She still pursued her musical career and was used to hang out a lot with friends. Later in 1964, Ted White, Jr., who is popularly known to the world as Teddy Richards was born to Aretha as her third child. He is often seen playing guitar with his mother’s band. Later in 1970, she has an affair with her road manager, Ken Cunningham which finally led to the birth of her fourth son named Kecalf. She got married to Ted White who was very much older than her. The marriage took place in 1961 even after her father objected it but later in 1969 she got divorced in the court of law due to domestic violence.
Later Aretha got married again to Glynn Turman on April 11, 1978. At that time Glynn already had three children. But it didn’t stay for long either. In 1982, the couple got separated and was officially divorced in 1984. After a long gap, in 2012, she made an announcement that she would be marrying her longtime companion Willie Wilkerson. But, again soon enough the wedding was called off. Her father was shot dead at point blank range at his home when Aretha was performing at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas in 1979. Her father was in coma for around 5 years and he finally passed away in 1984. Aretha has always been romantically linked up with a number of musicians and has been always pulled into the limelight with some or the other rumors.
MANSION:
Aretha owns a huge mansion in Detroit worth $ 700,000 which was built originally in 1927. It is a slate roof bricked mansion which has always appeared in news due to legal issues. Due to an attorney mistake, the mansion was about to slip into tax collectors in 2005. It was known that Aretha had not payed the taxes for many years the due was accumulated to about $ 18000.
