Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, announced Wednesday she is retiring — mostly — after she releases a new album later this year.
Franklin's upcoming album is slated for September and will contain original songs, some produced by Stevie Wonder, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The legendary "Respect" singer, who is 74, told WDIV Detroit she would still record new music after retiring, but "this will be my last year in concert. This is it."
Franklin said she wants to spend more time with her grandchildren before they go off to college, and said she might do a few concerts per year after retirement, but not a full tour, WDIV reported.
Retirement is bittersweet for her, she said, because “it’s what I’ve done all of my life.”
“I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from, and where it is now,” Franklin said in the WDIV interview. “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.”
Franklin started out as a gospel singer in the 1950s and moved on to secular pop music in the '60s.
She is excited about the new album and “can’t wait to get in the studio,” she told WDIV.
“It’s kind of multi-directional,” Franklin said. “We’re not pigeonholed to any one thing.”
The album will be recorded in Detroit.
“I keep my business in Detroit, or as close to Detroit as possible,” she told WDIV.
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