Legendary singer Aretha Franklin has died aged 76.

The publicist for Aretha Franklin confirmed that she had died Thursday at her home in Detroit.

Iconic soul singer Franklin was reported to be “gravely ill” in recent week and her family gathered around her bedside.

Franklin, 76, known by all as the ‘Queen of Soul’, received hospice care at her home in Detroit surrounded by her closest friends and family as she eventually ended her long battle against severe health problems.

Having being diagnosed with cancer in 2010, Franklin has continued to perform live and put together a rousing performance at the Elton John AIDS Foundation party in New York last November.

Franklin’s most recent record came in 2017 with ‘A Brand New Me’. It was shortly after this release that she announced her retirement. “I must tell you, I am retiring this year. I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now”, she said at the time.

[MORE] – Remembering when Aretha Franklin saved the 1998 Grammys with ‘the greatest performance in award-show history’

Franklin, who began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit where her father was the minister, went on to record a total of 112 charted singles which included 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and twenty number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in the chart’s history.

Franklin won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. On top of that, the Queen Of Soul became the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which came in 1987.

The news of Franklin’s death has been somewhat expected following the recent announcement made by Roger Freidmann: “Aretha is surrounded by family and people close to her,” he said in his column. “She will be so missed as a mother, sister, friend, cousin.”But her legacy is larger than life. It’s not just that Rolling Stone called her the number 1 singer of all time, or that she is the Queen of Soul. Long live the Queen.”

Far Out Magazine took time to revisit Franklin’s iconic performance at the 1998 Grammys, a showstopping rendition of Luciano Pavarotti’s ‘Nessun Dorma’ having been given just 20 minutes notice to step in.

To view that performance, click here.