12 Facts About Aretha Franklin

1. In 2018, Aretha Franklin was inducted in to the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.

2. On May 19, 2011, Aretha Franklin had her comeback show in the Chicago Theatre.

3. In 2010, Aretha Franklin canceled a number of concerts, after she decided to have surgery for an undisclosed tumor.

4. At one point, Aretha Franklin had plans to marry her longtime companion Willie Wilkerson.

5. On January 22, 1957, then aged 14, Aretha Franklin had a second child, named Edward after his father Edward Jordan.

6. In December 2015, Aretha Franklin gave an acclaimed performance of A Natural Woman" at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors during the section for honoree Carole King, who co-wrote the song.

7. On September 29, 2014, Aretha Franklin performed to a standing ovation, with Cissy Houston as backup, a compilation of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" on the Late Show with David Letterman.

8. In 2014, Aretha Franklin was signed under RCA Records, controller of the Arista catalog and a sister label to Columbia via Sony Music Entertainment, and worked with Clive Davis.

9. In 2010, Aretha Franklin accepted an honorary degree from Yale University.

10. In 2004, Aretha Franklin announced that she was leaving Arista after more than 20 years with the label.

11. In 1980, after leaving Atlantic Records, Aretha Franklin signed with Clive Davis's Arista Records and that same year gave a command performance at London's Royal Albert Hall in front of Queen Elizabeth.

12. That same year, Aretha Franklin earned international acclaim for her performance of "Nessun dorma" at the Grammy Awards, filling in at the last minute for Luciano Pavarotti, who had cancelled after the show had already begun.