Aretha Franklin ~ Rock Steady 1971 Funky Purrfection Version

Aretha, where would we be without her? Lady Soul brought fire and heat to pop music and without her groups like Labelle (Lady Marmalade) would have not be the household names they are today. She is singularly the greatest influential all around female vocalist of our time. By the late 1950’s, she was already creating a buzz on the gospel circuit. Her father, the Reverend CL Franklin, was a talent in his own right, his fervent preaching having been recorded and released on two dozen LP’s. She was signed to Columbia records in 1959 and they had no idea how to package her. Cloaked in jazz stylings for her first LP, “The Great Aretha Franklin“, it introduced her to the record buying public. Soon, however, she was mismatched with pop producers who tried to blanch her black soul. 1967 saw her being signed to Atlantic Records and paired with producer Jerry Wexler who launched her career into the stratosphere with the release of “I Never Loved A Man (The Way That I Love You). She became a soul