Aretha Franklin Biography

Aretha wants Halle Berry to portray her in a new TV movie that she is working on. Other roles may go to former American Idol contestants, Jennifer Hudson and Fantasia.

Her next album `Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen’ will feature Franklin's back catalogue with duets with Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, Annie Lennox, Frank Sinatra, George Michael and the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards.

She had two children out of wedlock before she turned 18. In total, she has four sons.

She has a fear of flying. The Otis Redding tragedy and her own scare in a small plane put Franklin's airplane anxiety in the red. She does not like to fly, which has put a crimp in her touring schedule.

Aretha crossed over from gospel to pop at the risk of alienating hard-core churchgoers. She was raised a Baptist and was the daughter of an influential minister.

She was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Nineteen years earlier she was the first African American woman on the cover of Time magazine.