I've looked around all over town

And I'm so lonely and so blue

I've looked around and all over

But I can't find nobody like you, you, you, yeah

NEW YORK (AP):

Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul who sang with matchless style on such classics as Think, I Say a Little Prayer and her signature song, Respect, and stood as a cultural icon around the globe, has died at the age 76 from pancreatic cancer.

A professional singer and accomplished pianist by her late teens and a superstar by her mid-20s, Franklin had long ago settled any arguments over who was the greatest popular vocalist of her time. Her gifts, natural and acquired, were a multi-octave mezzo-soprano, gospel passion and training worthy of a preacher's daughter, taste sophisticated and eccentric, and the courage to channel private pain into liberating song.

- Aretha Louise Franklin was born March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee. She died yesterday at her home in Detroit.

- In 2017, she announced her retirement from touring.

- Her last performance was at Elton John's Aids Foundation benefit in New York last November,

- Twenty of her songs have reached No. 1 on the R & B charts.

- Franklin has won 18 Grammy awards.

- In 1987, she became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

- Franklin has performed at the inaugurations of Presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama.

- Clinton awarded Franklin the National Medal of Arts, while President George W. Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honour, in 2005.

- Franklin has four sons, having been married twice - to her manager Ted White and later Actor Glynn Turman, whom she later divorced.

- Franklin has collaborated with pop and soul artistes such as Luther Vandross, Elton John, Whitney Houston, George Michael, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Lauryn Hill.