Soul superstar Aretha Franklin to retire from music in 2017

PanARMENIAN.Net - Soul superstar Aretha Franklin has announced plans to retire from music later this year, to spend time with her grandchildren, Gigwise reports.

Speaking to a local TV Station in Detroit, Franklin told reporter Evrod Cassimy that she is set to release a record in September, before stepping away from music to focus more on family life.

“I must tell you, I am retiring this year,” she told the station. The singer did however say that she still plans to work on "some select things", but mainly wants to spend time with her grandchildren before they leave for college.

“I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now,” Franklin said. “I’ll be pretty much satisfied, but I’m not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn’t be good either.”

Discussing her upcoming album, Frankin said she is "exuberant" about the project and "can't wait to get in the studio". She revealed that "several" songs on the record will be produced by Stevie Wonder, and that the album will be recorded in Detroit. The album will only feature original tracks.

In 2014, Frankin released the covers album Aretha Frankin Sings The Great Diva Classics, which included a cover of Adele's 'Rolling In The Deep'. The Queen of Soul also gave her take on Alica Keys, Etta James, The Supremes and Chaka Khan.