''Aretha'' is the twenty-sixth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin. It was released on September 30, 1980, by Arista Records. This is Franklin's second eponymous album, and her first for Arista Records after a 12-year tenure with Atlantic Records. 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'' 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 David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

– piano, Fender Rhodes, synthesizer * David Paich – piano, Hammond organ *Todd Cochran – synthesizer, programming * Steve Porcaro, Bob Christianson – additional synthesizer *

Ed Greene Ed Greene is an American drummer and session musician. In 1971 he recorded with Donald Byrd (''Ethiopian Knights'', 1972), together with Thurman Green, Harold Land, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Sample, Bobbye Porter Hall, David T. Walker, and W ...

Yogi Horton A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 T ...

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working o ...

, Bernard Purdie – drums *Francisco Centeno, Scott Edwards, Louis Johnson,

James Jamerson James Lee Jamerson (January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983) was an American bass player. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases ...

Mike Porcaro Michael Joseph Porcaro (May 29, 1955 – March 15, 2015) was an American bass player known for his work with the rock band Toto. He retired from touring in 2007 as a result of being diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He was t ...

– bass guitar *Michael McGlory,

Cornell Dupree Cornell Luther Dupree (December 19, 1942 – May 8, 2011) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. He worked at various times with Aretha Franklin, Bill Withers, Donny Hathaway, King Curtis and Steve Gadd, appeared on David Letterman,

, Paul Jackson Jr., Steve Lukather, David T. Walker, David Williams – guitar *George Devens – percussion *

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as "In Your Eyes", " Sl ...

, Michael Lang – keyboards *Tony Coleman – keyboards, bass guitar, backing vocals *

Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of M ...

Seldon Powell Seldon Powell (15 November 1928 – 25 January 1997) was an American soul jazz, swing, and R&B tenor saxophonist and flautist born in Lawrenceville, Virginia. He worked with Tab Smith (1949), Lucky Millinder (1949–51), Neal Hefti, and L ...

David "Fathead" Newman David "Fathead" Newman (February 24, 1933 – January 20, 2009) was an American jazz and rhythm-and-blues saxophonist, who made numerous recordings as a session musician and leader, but is best known for his work as a sideman on seminal 1950s an ...

– tenor saxophone *Lew Del Gatto – baritone saxophone * Dave Tofani,

David Sanborn David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album ''Taking Off'' in 19 ...

– alto saxophone *

Randy Brecker Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was born on No ...

Lew Soloff Lewis Michael Soloff (February 20, 1944–March 8, 2015) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and actor. Biography From his birth place of New York City, United States, he studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard Sc ...

– trumpet *Barry Rogers – trombone *

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'', '' Rock with You'' ...

– 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 Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for o ...

and Benjamin Wright *Kitty Beethoven, Ortheia Barnes, Estelle Brown, Tony Coleman, Brenda Corbett,

Preston Glass Preston Glass (born January 9, 1960) is an American musician, songwriter and producer. Glass is the winner of six BMI Awards. He has also worked several famous artists such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Kenny G, Natalie Cole and ...

, 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 James Hamish Stuart (born 8 October 1949) is a British guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer. He was an original member of the Average White Band. Biography Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Stuart attended Queens Park School in ...

The Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists. A founding member of the group was Dionne Warwick, who was later replaced by her aunt, Ciss ...

, Jeanie Tracy – backing vocals

Production

*Produced by

Chuck Jackson Chuck Jackson (born July 22, 1937) is an American R&B singer who was one of the first artists to record material by Burt Bacharach and Hal David successfully. He has performed with moderate success since 1961. His hits include "I Don't Want to ...

(tracks 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9) and

(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 Gene William Paul (born August 20, 1944) is an American audio recording / mixing / mastering engineer, producer and musician. He was an engineer at Atlantic Recording Studios during their famed 1960s–80s period and is currently the chief mas ...

(tracks 1–7 and 9); Arif Mardin and Michael O'Reilly (track 8). *Re-mix assistant on track 8: Joe Mardin *Recorded at MCA Whitney Recording Studios (Glendale), Record Plant (Los Angeles), Sound Labs Studios (Hollywood) and

Atlantic Studios Atlantic Studios was the recording studio of Atlantic Records. Although this recording studio was located at 1841 Broadway (at the corner of 60th Street), in New York City, Atlantic Recording Studios was initially located at 234 West 56th Street fr ...

(New York City). *Edited at

Cherokee Studios Cherokee Studios is a recording studio facility in Hollywood founded in 1972 by members of 1960s pop band The Robbs. Cherokee has been the location of many notable recordings by such artists as Steely Dan, David Bowie, Journey, The Cars, Foreign ...

(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 George Edward Hurrell (June 1, 1904 – May 17, 1992) was a photographer who contributed to the image of glamour presented by Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s. Early life Born in the Walnut Hills district of Cincinnati, Ohio, Hurrell ori ...

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