Top 40 Aretha Quotes

To me, R&B means Aretha Franklin, who is otherworldly.

You knew the difference between Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, straight away. Now everyone sounds like each other, and I don’t think that’s right.

I have total respect for the self-contained rock artist. Whether you’re dealing with Jerry Garcia or Lou Reed or Patti Smith or a Whitney or an Aretha, they know what they want with their career.

I naturally gravitated first to R&B and pop: Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle.

I can’t sing like Aretha Franklin as much as I wish I could. And I don’t sing like Etta James and the Judds as much as I wish I could.

I want to sing like Aretha Franklin. Before her I wanted the technical ability of Ella Fitzgerald.

Aretha Franklin holds a significant place in the collective heart of America. She’s a singular example of what we represent at our best.

My sound comes from my inspiration, which is people like Aretha and Jay Z and Kanye, as well as everyone from the Whitneys and Mariahs to Destiny’s Child and Usher. They all inspired me growing up.

You know, I thought seeing Aretha Franklin last year was amazing, and I didn’t think anyone can top that. But if someone can, John Legend would be the man. In my mind, he’s a legend, no pun intended.

When Aretha Franklin came on the radio when I was in college, we would stop the car, throw open the doors, jump out, and dance.

My introduction of Whitney was that if there’s going to be one performer for the next generation who combined the beauty and lyric phrasing of a Lena Horne with those Gospel fiery roots of an Aretha Franklin, it would be Whitney Houston.

My ultimate film role would be to play the queen of soul, Aretha Franklin.

As a kid, I was listening to Aretha Franklin, Etta James and hip-hop as well as music my parents were listening to, like Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen.

I’ve been getting into different gospel artists; Aretha Franklin is someone I’ve been listening to a lot of.

I started with soul music and icons like Aretha Franklin and Etta James and then moved to R&B and artists such as Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. Electronic music came later on, when I was in high school and I was really influenced by artists like Skrillex and Major Lazer.

I grew up loving Etta James and Aretha Franklin and Al Green and Otis Redding, and I just love old-school R&B. It’s just music that moves you and grooves you, and it was very important, I think, for music.

I cannot express how much music got me through lockdown. I re-discovered Roberta Flack, Smokey Robinson, and Aretha Franklin.

Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin. Now, they are so subtle, they can milk you with two notes. They can make you feel like they told you the whole universe. But I don’t know that yet. All I got now is strength. Maybe if I keep singing, maybe I’ll get it.

I was a pop-music junkie. My parents were into Frank Sinatra and Doris Day. They weren’t too excited when I had Aretha or the Stones pumping.

In the end, the sign of Aretha Franklin’s artistry is that she always leaves her mark – first, on the music, then on us.

Growing up, I was listening to a ton of Motown music, Otis Redding, Aretha, and then there was the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin. These were all people that I felt as though they truly felt every single lyric they said, and they weren’t afraid of imperfection.

I think the most-played record in our house was the ‘Big Chill’ Soundtrack – so Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Otis Redding. I think that’s where I got my love for a good hook, a good soul hook – really smooth and warm and from the heart.

I guess I could’ve been a prima ballerina. Or a nurse. Aretha Nightingale!

The first artist I really loved was Stevie Wonder. That opened the doors to other soul singers like Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin.

On long car rides, we would always listen to the ‘Blues Brothers’ soundtrack and try to emulate everything that Aretha Franklin was doing. There was soul and grit in it that I think a kid from the suburbs really needed.

I grew up with music in the house. I was told I could sing as soon as I started talking. Everybody in my family sang, always lots of records, blues and jazz and soul, R&B, you know, like Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Coltrane, that kind of thing.

I was determined to create my own identity. My first hits, in fact, were straight-up rhythm and blues. My voice was compared to Aretha Franklin’s – though, for my money, no one compares to Aretha.

Don’t say Aretha is making a comeback, because I’ve never been away!

Aretha Franklin, she’s just the most amazing singer ever. But I think there are so many singers that I just loved and sang along to on the radio. I guess I just enjoy trying out different styles along the way.

I’m telling the story, and if I can’t tell the story, I’m not going to sing it. And if I don’t agree with the story, and if I got to sing something that portrays me as something I’m not, then I’m not going to sing it either. I didn’t even want to sing Aretha Franklin’s ‘Chain of Fools.’

The voice of God, if you must know, is Aretha Franklin’s.

Growing up in Cleveland, I learned about singing from my mother, who had once sung professionally and who admired Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin.

But I’m really into old music – bluesy, soulful singers, like Etta James, Ray Charles, and Aretha Franklin. I wouldn’t have minded being born in the 1960s!

I love Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, and The Supremes, because I’m kind of old-school at heart.

Like when you hear Aretha Franklin sing – it touches your soul. Crunk music, it makes you just wanna lose your mind – just be free and wild out.

As a child I always wanted to be a singer. The music my mother played in the house moved me – Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Mahalia Jackson. It was truly spiritual. It made you understand what God was. We are all spirits. We get depressed. But music makes you want to live. I know my music has saved my life.

Aretha Franklin’s ‘Let Me in Your Life’ is one of the few recent R&B albums that places the emphasis entirely and deservedly on a voice. Many R&B producers have been making records on which the singer is outshined by the song, the arrangement and the sound.

I love Aretha Franklin, Edith Piaf, Blondie.

Aretha Franklin, first and foremost… That’s my top girl there.

My mom actually had a band called Six Pack – even though there were seven of them – who went around Chicago performing popular songs. Her voice was like Gladys Knight mixed with Aretha Franklin.