Aretha Franklin

I’m the lady next door when I’m not on stage.

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

Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I’m using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I’m happy with that.

I’ve always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music.

I sing to the realists; people who accept it like it is.

Falling out of love is like losing weight. It’s a lot easier putting it on than taking it off.

I’ve always felt rock and roll was very, very wholesome music.

Being a singer is a natural gift. It means I’m using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I’m happy with that.

I’ve never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down.

I work very hard at being the best musician I can be because I love it.

It is this tendency to play with manic enthusiasm on every possible occasion that distinguishes the amateur Jazz musician from the professional.

There’s a sadness to all kinds of music if you want to hear it. There’s also happiness to it if you want to hear it.

[On urging Nyro to tell Barbara Streisand that ‘Wedding Bell Blues’ had been personally written for her] It’s not a big lie.

Jazz is not background music. You must concentrate in order to get the most out of it. You must absorb it.

Jazz stands for freedom.

I don’t like to hear someone put down Dixieland. Those people who say there’s no music but bop are just stupid; it shows how much they don’t know.

To the person who uses music as a medium for the expression of ideas, feelings, images, or what have you; anything which facilitates this expression is properly his instrument.

Don’t play the saxophone. Let it play you.

The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.

I would like to thank my father who discouraged me from playing the violin at an early age.

Playing ‘bop’ is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.