Aretha Franklin, the legendary soul
singer who has fallen gravely ill, was visited at her
Detroit-area home on Tuesday by fellow recording artist Stevie
Wonder, U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and ex-husband
Glynn Turman, her publicist said.
Franklin, 76, a one-time gospel singer whose reign as the
"Queen of Soul" has spanned more than 50 years, is under hospice
care at her home, according to publicist Gwendolyn Quinn.
Quinn declined to discuss Franklin's ailment, but said:
"She’s seriously ill.”
The singer, whose hit songs include "Chain of Fools" and
"Think," has a long-standing professional relationship with
Wonder, with whom she performed 13 years ago at the Annual Soul
Train Lady of Soul Awards in Pasadena, California.
She and Turman were married from 1978 to 1984.
In her heyday of the 1960 and 1970s, Franklin dominated the
music charts with hits including "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I
Love You)," "Baby, I Love You," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A
Natural Woman," and "Respect," a cover of an Otis Redding tune
that became a song of empowerment during the U.S. civil rights
era.
Franklin's fans, including former U.S. President Bill
Clinton, have taken to social media to express their thoughts.
"Like people all around the world, Hillary and I are
thinking about Aretha Franklin tonight & listening to her music
that has been such an important part of our lives the last 50
years," Clinton said in a tweet on Monday night.