Aretha Franklin

The love of my life? I'm much too young to answer that question.

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

I'm never tired of going to the studio. I enjoy recording and documenting everything and trying new things.

I love all music.

We all require and want respect, man or woman, black or white. It's our basic human right.

Music does a lot of things for a lot of people. It's transporting, for sure. It can take you right back, years back, to the very moment certain things happened in your life. It's uplifting, it's encouraging, it's strengthening.

When God loves you, what can be better than that?

Columbia was a wonderful label for me. Wonderful. The records I made there garnered me an audience. I won a number of polls during the years that I was at Columbia. The Downbeat Jazz Poll. Leonard Feather, who was a huge critic back in the day, different polls that he had. The Playboy poll, a number of polls. So the music was great.

Sam Cooke had a huge influence on me. He left the gospel field at one point and went into the secular, and he had this huge hit, 'You Send Me.' Irma, my older sister, and I heard 'You Send Me' on the radio while we were driving through the South one night. We had to stop the car. We got out and danced around the car out on the highway.

As a very small girl, I listened to Charlie Parker and loved him and Max Roach and people like that.

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

Everybody wants respect. In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms.

I don't think I was a catalyst for the women's movement.

I paid my dues; I certainly did.

It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person. It means I've done my job.

He was definitely an original and a one-of-a-kind. Truly there was only one Prince.

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.

Politics are not my arena. Music is.

Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum.

I had not been in the jazz environment, having been brought up in the church. But once I got to New York, and I was signed to perform at The Village Gate and the Vanguard and clubs like that, and these - the Vanguard was one of the most elite, if not the most elite, jazz club out there.

There's a lot of great singers out here.

I guess I could've been a prima ballerina. Or a nurse. Aretha Nightingale!

Let's start with the church. As you know, it's my background, it's a natural setting for me and it's definitely my roots.

Women absolutely deserve respect.

Being the Queen is not all about singing, and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.

I go to the healthier foods that are less chemically treated. I am drinking lots of water to get rid of the toxins in my body. It's a natural flushing. Water flushes your system and is also very good for your skin.

It's very satisfying. To perform the way you want to. And the way you know that you can.

I donate heavily to the church and various churches in the Detroit community and food banks.

I like Beyonce's music - some of it, not all of it.

I've never recorded anything I didn't like.

My American audiences are pretty mixed. I get all sorts of people, old and young. It's nice.

I came up in gospel.

My faith always has been and always will be important to me.

I think women and children and older people are the three least-respected groups in our society.

I've been around long enough for people to know who I am and what my contributions are. They know me as more than just an artist. I think they know me as a woman as well.

President Clinton, I sang at his post-inauguration party out in Maryland.

Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you're doing. If you're not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.

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

I love Wal-Mart, and not just because my record is there. You can get some things there that you cannot find at Saks or Bergdorf's or other upscale stores.

Parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home.

Gospel goes with me wherever I go. Gospel is a constant with me.

Who hasn't had a weight issue? If not the body, certainly the big head!

I still have perfect diction!

I like writing and don't confine myself to just the words or just the music. But I don't particularly write songs with myself in mind.

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

It's easy for a singer to sometimes pick up on another singer's sound, but that's just copying.

I haven't had the occasion to meet Adele. She lives in England. So when I'm flying, or when she comes over here, perhaps we'll have a chance. I think she's a very fine singer, a very strong writer and performer.

President Bush bestowed the Congressional Medal on myself.

Yes, I've always been fashion conscious.

Intermittently in my concert format, I sing a little jazz, a little scatting.

I love 'Anne of Green Gables.' I have for years. That's one of my favourite things. She's such a can-do kind of girl; that's why I'm crazy about her.

We didn't have music videos. You weren't an overnight sensation. You had to work at it and learn your craft: how to take care of your voice, how to pace your concerts, all that trial and error.

I am doing what I love to do, and you cannot beat that, especially when the audience appreciates what you prepare for them. It's very, very gratifying.

I'm a big woman. I need big hair.

Ariana Grande - I like her a lot.

I just got into Mike Tyson. My security people kept saying, 'Haven't you seen him yet?' Well, I finally did, and he's got a real knockout punch.

I don't feel one's personal medical condition is everybody's business. It just isn't something you advertise, and it's not open to discussion.

I'm not ever going to retire. That's - that wouldn't be good, for one, just to go somewhere and sit down and do nothing. Please. No, that's not moi.

When I first started, I wore Ceil Chapman gowns. I've been wondering for years what happened to the Ceil Chapman line of clothing.

You cannot define a person on just one thing. You can't just forget all these wonderful and good things that a person has done because one thing didn't come off the way you thought it should come off.

I've done the Kennedy Center many times. I've sang for Marian Anderson. I've sang for Marion Williams. I've sang for Lionel Hampton.

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

I remember singing around the house to records that were playing. All kinds of music. And the great James Cleveland was often in our house, and I grew up with his sound as well.

I love producing, writing. I rarely write with other writers unless I have a real great respect for them. Like Burt Bacharach, or Carole Sager, or Stevie Wonder. Somebody like Smokey - like that. Otherwise, I choose to write alone.

I know people I feel are extremely talented, but I don't know that I've ever heard any geniuses.

Every birthday is a gift. Every day is a gift.

Prince is gone. But the music will go on.

And I was booked once to go on 'Ed Sullivan' and I got bumped and ran out the back door crying.

If a song's about something I've experienced or that could've happened to me it's good. But if it's alien to me, I couldn't lend anything to it. Because that's what soul is all about.

I think the hardest thing is losing weight. That's the hardest thing more than anything else.

People really don't have to give you anything, so appreciate what people give you.

I loved going to church. I enjoyed being a part of the choir and just doing things in and around the church. But as a young girl, I certainly enjoyed watching and listening to my dad.

I used to have hamburgers coming and going, especially when I was on the road. Now, occasionally I will still have that quarter pounder because I love fast food, but you have to keep it to a minimum. I am now opting for salads and just healthier lunches.

Music changes, and I'm gonna change right along with it.

My generation, we came along, we had to really know our craft.

I saw the Supremes when they were still singing in little black skirts and white blouses.

Well, Babyface brings his savoir faire to every project. He's a very easy producer to work with, very detailed in listening to everything.

I was in my dad's church, his Baptist church, and I think the first song I ever performed was 'Jesus Be a Fence Around Me.'