One of Aretha Franklin's producers once said: "The mood she creates in the studio is incomparable. I have seen other musicians stop playing to listen to her ... Her God-given voice is supported by her musical genius ... With such a person there are no limits."

Having learned from her father, Baptist preacher C.L. Franklin, Aretha was able to instantly grab an audience and carry them emotionally. But she inherited her singing talent from her mother, so much so that Gospel legend and family friend Mahalia Jackson once described her mother as "one of the really great gospel singers, and more talented than the Reverend."

Franklin's musical role models included the gospel singers Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward and jazz and blues singer Dinah Washington. A year after Washington's death, Aretha released "Unforgettable," a worthy tribute album. Her early years were marked by the death of her mother at age 34, and two pregnancies at ages 14 and 16. Whenever she sang the blues, she was always convincing.

Franklin's real success came after she signed on to Atlantic Records in 1967. A year later, "Respect" was a No.1 hit. It became the anthem of the American civil rights and women's rights movements. Martin Luther King was a good friend of her father's, and in 1968 it was one of Franklin's proudest moments when King awarded her a prize. At his funeral later that year, she sang "Precious Lord."

If Aretha Franklin had owned a Facebook account, under relationship status would be written "It's complicated." She had two marriages: The first is said to have been violent, the second came to an abrupt end due to infidelity. Aretha was always very guarded about her private life, but from what we do know, one can say: her emotions and her soul probably guided her.

The album "Lady Soul" cemented her position as the "Queen of Soul" early on in her career. Other critics' favorites followed in the early seventies, including "Spirit in the Dark," "Live at the Fillmore West," and "Young, Gifted, and Black."

Producer Jerry Wexler told how hesitant Aretha was to make her first gospel album in 1972. "I really had to persuade her ... She didn't want to be disgraced in front of the church ... She had great reservations about recording church music, precisely because she had previously sung blues and jazz — profane things, so to speak". "Amazing Grace" became the most successful gospel album of all time.

For her acting debut in the 1980 film Blues Brothers, Franklin recorded a new version of "Think," one of her earlier classic hits. Her appearance as the owner of a filthy diner was one of the film's absolute highlights. The soundtrack also proved very popular and helped end the singer's six-year career break.

The 1980s introduced Franklin to a new generation. Having left Atlantic for Arista Records, her 1985 album "Who's Zoomin' Who?," produced by Narada Michael Walden, was her first to go platinum. Two years later, the duet "I Knew You Were Waiting For Me," with George Michael, hit No.1. Both singers benefitted — Michael gained credibility as a solo singer and Aretha won over a younger audience.

Despite her renewed success, the eighties were a mixed blessing for Franklin. Her father died in 1984 as a result of a robbery, her younger sister Carolyn succumbed to cancer in 1988, and her big brother Cecil passed away a year later. The two sisters had written the song "Angel" together in 1973.

Franklin renewed her call for R.E.S.P.E.C.T. in the Blues Brothers sequel, which in 1998 saw her reprise the role of Mrs Murphy. Many of her early songs revolve around the respectful treatment of women, such as "Do Right Woman - Do Right Man" from 1967, a time when Aretha was in a violent marriage with music manager Ted White.

Franklin teamed up with Annie Lennox in "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves," a "Girl Power" anthem even before the term had been invented. Around the turn of the century, music channel VH1 created the Divas Live series. The first edition in 1998 saw Franklin sing the other four divas into the ground. In 2001, an entire show was dedicated to the "Queen of Soul," joined here by Mary J. Blige.

When Barack Obama was sworn in as the first African American president in 2009, Franklin's rendition of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" was a highlight. Her interpretations were often breathtaking. Franklin debuted her cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" at the 1971 Grammy Awards. A year later, she returned to pick up a Grammy for the same song after it had sold two million copies.

"My faith has always been important to me, and will always be important to me," Franklin once said. During Pope Francis' visit to the US in 2015, she performed the hymn "Amazing Grace." Backstage, she gave him a little collection of her father's sermons. Francis was not the only pontiff that Franklin performed for. In 1987, she'd sung for John Paul II.

Besides 18 Grammys, Franklin was handed the highest American honors that an artist can receive, the Kennedy Center Honors Award in 1994 and the Medal of Freedom in 2005. Three years ago, when she performed "Natural Woman" at the Kennedy Center in honor of the songwriter Carole King, even the then-President Obama shed a tear.