Futurity

How Aretha Franklin changed American music

With the death of Aretha Franklin and the outpouring of remembrances from her fans, a musicologist looks back on her life and legacy.

As family, friends, and fans pay their final respects to Aretha Franklin, whose funeral was August 31, Charles Kronengold argues that Franklin defined her time in many ways.

Franklin, who died August 16 at age 76, figures extensively in Kronengold’s upcoming book, Crediting Thinking in Soul and Dance Music. Kronengold shows how the “Queen of Soul” changed the way people listen to music, to African American culture and, he says, to each other.

Here Kronengold, who is an assistant professor in the music department in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University, speaks on Franklin’s influence on pop culture and how she will be remembered by generations to come.

The post How Aretha Franklin changed American music appeared first on Futurity.

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