- Aretha Franklin was a soulful person

who understood how faith could heal

and she put that into her music.

♪ R E S P E C T ♪

- Her music was so personal

♪ Find out what it means to me ♪

But the backbone through itall was her faith in God.

♪ It's called a little respect ♪

- Aretha grew up in avery faith-based home.

Her mother sang in church

and her father, theReverend C.L. Franklin,

was one of the United Statesmost well-known ministers.

- My daughter, Aretha,will bless us with song.

- Aretha being brought up inthe church, same as myself,

you learn to sing to a higher calling.

- Aretha was anointed.

You can feel the presenceof God in her voice.

- She brought that same intensity

and that same love to her pop music.

♪ You better think ♪♪ Think ♪

- Aretha united thesecular and the sacred.

- When she sang there was something

that was so fundamentallyconnected to the human spirit,

you were moved.

- I wish that every daywas Aretha Franklin Day.

- Aretha Franklin got to know my father,

Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr.

She used that gift of music

to do freedom concerts forthe civil rights movement.

♪ Freedom ♪♪ Freedom ♪

- She was able to cross over all genres,

all races, all creeds witha message that is timeless.

- She reached a level of success

that even she couldn't imagine

but Aretha's journey,it starts at the church

and it ends at the church.

With her album, AmazingGrace, she finds her way back.

- This album is forGod, I have to do this.

- Amazing Grace wasAretha coming back home.

I'll never forget the recording session,

the anointing that was on her.

The power of God that filled that place.

- She was the Queen of Soul,there will never be another.

- Her connection to herspirituality and her faith

is the reason we're stilltalking about her now.

- No matter what she was upagainst, God was still there

and God still had a purpose for her.

♪ Before the day I met you ♪

- Aretha's legacy

plumbs the depths andthe highs of humanity

and she tells us

that every part of beinga human being is okay.

- Amen.

- Through the triumphs,the set backs, family,

and her faith in God, iswhat got her through life

and it made her who she was.

- You with God, Re, youhave always been with God.

(Aretha Franklin "(You Make MeFeel Like) A Natural Woman")