Diva Aretha Franklin is said to be gravely ill and her family including Willie Wilkerson who is said to be her fiancé and is also known as her “forever friend.”
While rumors are swirling on social media claiming that Franklin, 76, is dead, her close entourage spoke to Showbiz 411 and said that is not the case.
It has been confirmed that “Respect” singer is in Detroit, Michigan and she is surrounded by her relatives and close friends who are there to say a final goodbye.
Family members of The Queen of Soul including her four sons — Edward and Clarence Franklin, Ted White Jr., and Kecalf Cunningham — are asking for prayers and positive thoughts at this moment.
Franklin, 76, known for hit songs like “A Rose Is Still a Rose” along with “Chain Of Fools” and the George Michael assisted “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” began her career when she was barely a teenager in 1956.
The “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” artist has released a whopping 42 albums — the first one, Songs of Faith, came out in 1956, and the last LP called A Brand New Me in 2017.
The Queen of Soul has had an impressive musical career — she is the winner of 18 Grammy Awards and is considered as one of the top 100 Greatest Artists of All Time by Billboard — and she stole the show with a unique hat at Barack Obama‘s 2009 inauguration.
Franklin made history by being the first woman inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
Over the years, Franklin declined to speak about her illnesses (many assumed she was battling cancer), but it was nearly impossible not to notice her drastic weight loss.
Three of her siblings died from cancer. Her brother, Cecil, lost his battle with lung cancer in 1989; sister Carolyn died after struggling with breast cancer in 1988, and Erma died in 2002 from throat cancer.
Fans were saddened when she announced in 2017 that she was retiring and was eager to work with Stevie Wonder.
