Iconic singer Aretha Franklin was reported to be “gravely ill” at home in Detroit, surrounded by her friends and family. Franklin, 76, retired last year after encountering a series of health issues.
Showbiz411.com said: “Originally diagnosed with cancer in 2010, Aretha, who turned 76 in March, bravely battled back and refused to be knocked out by illness. Her last performance was on November 2, 2017 for the Elton John AIDS Foundation in New York. Her final public performance was at Philadelphia’s Mann Center in August 2017. It was a miraculous show as Aretha was already then fighting exhaustion and dehydration. Aretha is surrounded by family and people close to her. She will be so missed as a mother, sister, friend, cousin. But her legacy is larger than life.”
TMZ reports that Franklin is currently battling cancer, that her weight is down to just 86 pounds, and that a “dear friend” reports they were told, “prepare yourself, she’s dying.”
Franklin is the most-charted female artist in Billboard history, having notched up 112 charting singles. She’s won 18 Grammy Awards and sold over 75 million records worldwide. She’s the first female to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, entering in 1987. Announcing her retirement last year, she said: “I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now. I’ll be pretty much satisfied, but I’m not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn’t be good either.” She released her 42nd album, A Brand New Me, last November.