SINGER Aretha Franklin has announced she is retiring this year – after recording one final album with Stevie Wonder.
The 74-year-old, dubbed the Queen of Soul, said she feels “exuberant” about her plans to work with Wonder before ending her more than 50-year career.
Franklin told Detroit TV station WDIV Local 4 host Evrod Cassimy: “I must tell you, I am retiring this year. I will be recording, but this will be my last year in concert. This is it.”
Although keen to step away from the industry, Franklin said that she will not “just sit down and do nothing”, and that she hopes to “do some select things” on occasion.
Of her swansong album, set for release in the autumn, she said: “Of course, several of the songs are going to be produced by Stevie, and of course there’s only one Stevie, right?”
Franklin has sold more than 75 million records worldwide.
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