“Aretha is a gift from God. When it comes to expressing yourself through song, there is no one who can touch her. She is the reason why women want to sing.” –Mary J. Blige

There is only one Queen of Soul, and that’s Aretha Franklin. She is the voice of a generation, whose songs electrified the airwaves and gave rise to strongest female voices of the last half-a-century. It wasn’t just her vocal range that distinguished her as an R&B icon, but the range of people with whom she reached, identified with, and ultimately liberated through the soaring, unifying power of her vocals. We are paying respect to th