''Aretha'' is the twenty-sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American singer

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

. It was released on September 30, 1980, by

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

. This is Franklin's second eponymous album, and her first for Arista Records after a 12-year tenure with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. Franklin's first Arista single release, "United Together", reached number 3 on the Soul chart and crossed over to number 56 on ''Billboard''s Hot 100. The album itself peaked at number 47 and spent 30 weeks on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' album chart. The album's opening track, "Come to Me", appeared again on Franklin's 1989 album, '' Through the Storm''.

Track listing

Personnel

*Aretha Franklin – vocals, keyboards, piano, backing vocals * David Foster – piano,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

, synthesizer *

David Paich David Frank Paich (born June 25, 1954) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, principal songwriter, keyboardist and singer of the rock band Toto since 1977. He wrote or co-wrote much of Toto's original material, including the ba ...

– piano,

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

*Todd Cochran – synthesizer, programming *

Steve Porcaro Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff in 1992 and M ...

, Bob Christianson – additional synthesizer * Ed Greene, Yogi Horton, Jeff Porcaro,

Bernard Purdie Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is an American drummer, and an influential R&B, soul and funk musician. He is known for his precise musical time keeping and his signature use of triplets against a half-time backbeat: the "Purdie ...

– drums *Francisco Centeno, Scott Edwards, Louis Johnson, James Jamerson, Mike Porcaro – bass guitar *Michael McGlory, Cornell Dupree,

Paul Jackson Jr. Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musi ...

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

David T. Walker David T. Walker (born June 25, 1941) is an American guitarist, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to numerous session musician duties since the early 1970s, Walker has issued fifteen albums in his own name. Career David T. Walker was born to ...

, David Williams – guitar *George Devens – percussion * Richard Tee, Michael Lang – keyboards *Tony Coleman – keyboards, bass guitar, backing vocals * Michael Brecker, Seldon Powell, David "Fathead" Newman – tenor saxophone *Lew Del Gatto – baritone saxophone *

Dave Tofani Dave Tofani is an American saxophonist and woodwind player, and composer. As a session musician he has performed on over 500 jazz, pop, and rock recordings such as the clarinet solo on " Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" by Soft Cell.AllMusic Dave Tofani ...

, David Sanborn – alto saxophone * Randy Brecker, Lew Soloff – trumpet *Barry Rogers – trombone * Jerry Hey – horns *John Clark, Peter Gordon – French horn *Jonathan Abramowitz, Jack Barber, A. Brown, Peter Dimitriades, Harold Kohon, Harry Lookofsky, Joseph Malin, Alan Shulman, Mitsue Takayama, Gerald Tarack, M. Wright, Frederick Zlotkin, F. Zoltin – strings *Strings and Horns arranged by Arif Mardin and Benjamin Wright *Kitty Beethoven, Ortheia Barnes, Estelle Brown, Tony Coleman, Brenda Corbett, Preston Glass, Larry Graham, Jennifer Hall, Chuck Jackson, Liz Jackson, Edie Lehmann, Myrna Matthews, Marti McCall, Claytoven Richardson, Esther Ridgeway, Gloria Ridgeway, Sylvia Shemwell, Myrna Smith, Hamish Stuart, The Sweet Inspirations, Jeanie Tracy – backing vocals

Production

*Produced by Chuck Jackson (tracks 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9) and Arif Mardin (tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8). *Co-producer on track 9: Aretha Franklin *Engineers: Lee DeCarlo and Frank Kejmar (tracks 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9); Jeremy Smith (tracks 1, 2, 6 and 8). *Additional engineer: Lewis Hahn *Assistant engineers: Michael O'Reilly, Stewart Whitmore *Mixing on tracks 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9: Reginald Dozier *Re-mixing: Lewis Hahn and Gene Paul (tracks 1–7 and 9); Arif Mardin and Michael O'Reilly (track 8). *Re-mix assistant on track 8:

Joe Mardin Joe Mardin (born Yusuf Mardin) is a Turkish-American music producer, arranger and engineer from New York City. He is a Berklee College of Music graduate and is the son of the Turkish American producer Arif Mardin. Joe Mardin is also a conductor, s ...

*Recorded at MCA Whitney Recording Studios (Glendale),

Record Plant The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including Blon ...

(Los Angeles), Sound Labs Studios (Hollywood) and Atlantic Studios (New York City). *Edited at Cherokee Studios (Los Angeles). *Mixed at MCA Whitney Recording Studios and Cherokee Studios. *Mastering: Ken Perry and Bill Inglot at Sterling Sound (New York). *Art direction and design: Ria Lewerke-Shapiro *Photography: George Hurrell

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1980 albums Aretha Franklin albums Albums produced by Arif Mardin Albums produced by Narada Michael Walden Arista Records albums