DETROIT (AP) — Former presidents and preachers joined a parade of singers Friday in a hip-swaying, piano-pounding farewell to Aretha Franklin, remembering the Queen of Soul as a powerful force for musical and political change and a steadfast friend and family member...
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A small town in the Mississippi Delta that has ties to the civil rights movement will soon be home to the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame.
Project planners hope to finish building the facility in the town of Marks in two or three years, Velma Wilson, director of economic tourism and development for Quitman County, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Aretha Franklin was so hard-nosed in her business dealings that she demanded to be paid in cash before performing...
Moments from the Aretha Franklin funeral
"Hope I die before I get old," the Who sang at Woodstock as the 1960s hurtled to their end. Indeed, the decade and its echoes made premature legends of so many — Kennedy to King, Hendrix to Joplin to Morrison...
Two farewells, both reflecting distinct but uniquely American cultures.
In Detroit, celebrities sat alongside anonymous mourners Friday in joyous remembrance of Aretha Franklin, a funeral that brought together the black church, gospel music, civil rights activism and Detroit civic pride...
NEW YORK (AP) — When I got the chance to interview Aretha Franklin for the first time in 2001, I was already a bundle of nerves: Even though it was just over the phone, I'd be talking to THE Queen of Soul...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jennifer Hudson was named entertainer of the year at the 53rd annual NAACP Image Awards that highlighted works by entertainers and writers of color.
After Hudson accepted the award Saturday night, the singer-actor thanked the NAACP for inspiring “little girls like me.” She beat out Regina King, Lil Nas X, Megan Thee Stallion and Tiffany Haddish.
NEW YORK (AP) — Aretha Franklin never saw herself as a feminist heroine. That, she quipped, was Gloria Steinem's role...
NEW YORK (AP) — Marilyn Bergman, the Oscar-winning lyricist who teamed with husband Alan Bergman on “The Way We Were,” “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” and hundreds of other songs, died at her Los Angeles home Saturday.
DETROIT (AP) — Aretha Franklin was given a bit of posthumous R-E-S-P-E-C-T on Monday when a post office in her hometown of Detroit was named after the late singer.
Members of Franklin’s family as well as postal and elected officials visited the former Fox Creek post office to celebrate the name change honoring the Queen of Soul.
Jennifer Hudson was fresh off her Oscar win for “Dreamgirls” when she was summoned to meet Aretha Franklin in 2007. The two singers had technically met before, when Hudson, freshly cut from American Idol, opened for Franklin at a show in Indiana.
The tag line for the latest biopic about an American icon reads: “Find out what it means.” Good luck with that.
After more than two hours of the new messy Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect,” it’s not clear what it means, wasting a lot of superb screen talent in the slapdash process.
Reaction to the death of soul icon Aretha Franklin, who died Thursday:
"Through her compositions and unmatched musicianship, Aretha helped define the American experience...
NEW YORK (AP) — The Tony Awards could bring Cynthia Erivo another Emmy.
Days after the British performer belted Aretha Franklin’s SENECA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin and Nobel laureate and “Beloved” author Toni Morrison will be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame Thursday as part of a posthumous class of Black honorees that also includes Henrietta Lacks, whose cells were widely used in biomedical research; Barbara Hillary, the first Black woman to travel to both the North and South Poles, and civil rights activists Barbara Rose Johns Powell and Mary Church Terrell.
NEW YORK (AP) — Earning his 21st No. 1 hit on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart, Drake has bested a record previously held by icons Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder...
NEW YORK (AP) — Harry Belafonte made history in early 1968. But it was lost to history.
While the Vietnam War was raging and civil unrest was convulsing American cities, TV talk show host Johnny Carson did something special: He stepped away from “The Tonight Show” perch for a week...
NEW YORK (AP) — A never-before-heard solo version of the late 
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A niece of Aretha Franklin said she's quitting as representative of the late singer's estate, citing a rift in the family since handwritten wills were discovered last year.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — With this Sunday’s Grammy ceremony to be his last after 40 years of producing it, Ken Ehrlich could be excused for creating a few moments in the show to look back on his own legacy, which includes creating indelible moments that will live in pop consciousness forever: Aretha Franklin singing “Nessun dorma,” Beyoncé shaking and shimmying alongside Prince, and Eminem and Elton John performing together...
NEW YORK (AP) — Tommy Hilfiger never shies away from spectacle when it comes to his runway shows, and his return to New York Fashion Week after several years was no exception...
DETROIT (AP) — Regardless of her reputation as a performer, Aretha Franklin's cancer doctors say PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — The Latest on legal wrangling over Aretha Franklin's estate (all times local): 7:50 p.m. A Michigan judge agreed to allow a handwriting expert to examine wills discovered in couch cushions after Aretha Franklin's death...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox recorded "Sisters Are Doin' it For Themselves" in 1985, the Queen of Soul tried out a pointed ad lib for the empowerment anthem...
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Three handwritten wills have been found in the suburban Detroit home of Aretha Franklin, months after the death of the "Queen of Soul," including one that was discovered under cushions in the living room, a lawyer said Monday...
NEW YORK (AP) — Yes, British singer James Bay's favorite music T-shirt is of the Rolling Stones, but the one he wishes he had...
NEW YORK (AP) — Aretha Franklin received an honorary Pulitzer Prize on Monday, as judges praised the Queen of Soul "for her indelible contribution to American music and culture...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — For Smokey Robinson, the late Aretha Franklin was more than just the Queen of Soul...
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — The audience at Clive Davis' white-hot gala included Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but it was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who got the most requests to take a selfie...
NEW YORK (AP) — The long-gestating Aretha Franklin biopic "Respect" is going ahead with stage director Liesel Tommy set to direct...
NEW YORK (AP) — Elton John said he stood by the stage and sobbed at his foundation's gala last year as Aretha Franklin made her final public performance.
"I was shocked to see how thin she was, and she just smiled her sweet smile at me and said, 'I didn't want to let you down,'" he told The Associated Press on the red carpet Monday night at this year's party.
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 46 years after it was shot, the Aretha Franklin concert film "Amazing Grace" will finally be released, ending one of the most tortured and long-running sagas in documentary film...
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit museum that hosted Aretha Franklin's public visitations after her death is again holding space for her — this time with an exhibit featuring photographs, videos and the red shoes she wore at the first funeral viewing that drew global attention...
DETROIT (AP) — A black pastor's controversial eulogy at Aretha Franklin's funeral laid bare before the world what black women say they have experienced for generations: sexism and inequality in their houses of worship every Sunday...
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Meeting on the campus of Jackson State University on a recent Friday afternoon, dozens of black women came together to strategize about the upcoming midterm elections, opening the gathering with a freedom song...