Today, March 25th, 2024, we at Grateful Web honor the birth and enduring legacy of the incomparable Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, whose voice and spirit continue to resonate across the globe. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1942, Franklin's journey into music was deeply rooted in the gospel sounds of the church, a foundational element that would profoundly shape her future in soul, R&B, and beyond.

I was fortunate to be invited to virtually partake in National Geographic's premier of “Genius: Aretha,” the third series in its anthology franchise. (Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso were the focus of the first two seasons.) For me personally, Aretha Franklin is almost as influential as the Grateful Dead and interestingly, I find that there are quite a few correlations between the iconic musicians.