“American history wells up when Aretha sings”, President Obama

On the 3rd of January 1987, Aretha Franklin became the first woman to be admitted into the US Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.

Born in Tennessee in 1942 Aretha Franklin was to become one of the greatest Soul performers from the 1960s onwards and a campaigner for civil rights.

It seems extraordinary that it took so long for a woman to be entered into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame given the number of female performers there were. Aretha Franklin’s contribution to music over the decades and her influence on other musicians makes it is even more remarkable that it took so long for her to be admitted.

In 1979 she received a ‘star’ on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in 1985 her voice was declared a Michigan ‘natural resource’.

She died in 2018.