Carolyn Franklin

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Carolyn Franklin (1944 to 1988) was an American singer and songwriter. She was born in Memphis, the youngest of six children of C.L. Franklin and Barbara Siggers Franklin. Shortly after her birth the family moved to Buffalo, and around 1946 it settled in Detroit. There Carolyn began singing in her father's New Bethel Baptist Church. Her sisters Erma and Aretha found success with secular music in the early 1960s, and Carolyn followed them. In 1963 she recorded for the first time.

Music and breakthrough

From 1969 she recorded for RCA, until she left the music world in 1976. Releases under her own name include Baby Dynamite! in 1969, Chain Reaction and The First Time I Cried in 1970, I'd Rather Be Lonely in 1973 and If You Want Me in 1976. She and Erma did not match Aretha's success, and so Carolyn worked mainly behind the scenes as a songwriter, chiefly for Aretha. She wrote Ain't No Way, recorded in 1968, which reached the R&B top ten and the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100. In 1973 came the ballad Angel, with Carolyn and Erma on backing vocals and a tribute from Aretha at the start. She also wrote Pullin' in 1970 with Jimmy Radcliffe and Aretha.

Influence

Carolyn Franklin still sang with Aretha now and then, including in the film The Blues Brothers in 1980. She died in 1988. Her work shows that behind a great soul voice there is often also a writer and backing singer.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1969Baby Dynamite!
• 1970Chain Reaction
• 1970The First Time I Cried
• 1973I'd Rather Be Lonely
• 1976If You Want Me