Aretha Franklin, the American singer known as the “Queen of Soul,” died Thursday at her home in Detroit, Michigan. She had spent many years battling cancer. She was 76 years old. Franklin was born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee. But she was raised in Detroit. There, her father C.L. Franklin was a church minister. Her musical talent was recognized at a young age. She played piano and sang gospel music at her father’s church services. Franklin began singing pop and jazz music at age 18, when she signed a recording agreement with Columbia Records. But her real success started in 1967 under an agreement with Atlantic Records. That agreement permitted her to sing with her natural gospel intensity.