TIME

Aretha Franklin sang her way through history

Franklin, in 1968: She shattered the limits of what could be done with a song

WHEN ARETHA FRANKLIN SANG, OUT POURED THE sun and the moon. Her voice was optimism shaded with sorrow, joy tempered by the understanding that nothing in life can be perfect—but above all it was a sound that both absorbed and radiated light. To hear it is to feel bathed in that light. Franklin died on Aug. 16 at age 76,

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