Queen Of Soul Aretha Franklin Dies In Detroit At 76

Aretha Franklin , the Queen of Soul whose songs "Respect" and "Chain of Fools" topped the charts in the 1960s, has died, her publicist announced. She was 76.

Franklin died of an undisclosed illness for which she was hospitalized Monday. CBS News and NPR confirmed her death. NPR reported that she died Thursday in Detroit, according to Franklin's publicist, Gwendolyn Quinn.

Her death came after several concert cancellations in recent years, including two March shows in New Jersey. Franklin's last live performance was Nov. 2 at the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York City.

Aretha Louise Franklin was born March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tenn., to pastor and civil rights activist C.L. Franklin. The family moved to Detroit two years later, where she began singing gospel as a child at New Bethel Baptist Church.

Franklin began her professional career at age 14, recording with J.V.B. Records and Columbia Records. It wasn't until she signed with Atlantic Records in 1967, though, that she gained fame with "Respect," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," perhaps her most famous songs.

She produced more than 40 studio albums and about half a dozen live albums over the course of her more-than six decade career.

Franklin won 20 Grammy Awards, including the Legend Award in 1991, the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994 and the MusiCares Person of the Year in 2008. She was also honored with three American Music Awards, a Golden Globe, two MTV Video Music Awards and three NAACP Image Awards.

She has 73 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 list, including two No. 1 hits and 17 Top 10 hits.

Franklin sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee" at President Barack Obama 's 2009 inauguration in Washington, D.C., a performance she said she wasn't happy with.

"Mother Nature was not very kind to me. I'm going to deal with her when I get home. It, by no means, was my standard. I was not happy with it, but I just feel blessed because it could have been five above zero or five below zero like it is in Detroit," the Queen of Soul told CNN's Larry King . "I was still blessed to be able to pretty much just sing the melody, but I wasn't happy with it, of course."

A biopic starring Jennifer Hudson about Franklin's life is in the early phases , and is based on the singer's memoir Aretha: From These Roots .

She was married twice, from 1961-69 to Ted White and from 1978-84 to Glynn Turman . She was engaged to be married a third time to Willie Wilkerson but called it off in 2012 .

Franklin is survived by four sons: Clarence Franklin, Edward Franklin, Ted White Jr. and Kecalf Cunningham.