Remembrances

Michael Eric Dyson (left) and Aretha Franklin at Franklin's birthday dinner in March 2011 in New York City.

Music & Culture

'The Voice Of A Century': Michael Eric Dyson Looks Back On Aretha Franklin's Life

3:29pm August 17, 2018

Noel King talks to Dyson, a professor at Georgetown University, about the legacy of Aretha Franklin. The Queen of Soul died August 16 at the age of 76.

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Aretha Franklin's music regularly disclosed a vulnerability and insecurity residing within the head that wore the "Queen of Soul" crown.

Music & Culture

We Still Can't Comprehend The Power Of Aretha Franklin's Voice

11:55am August 17, 2018

by Ken Tucker

No one's voice has ever soared like this.

George W. Bush awards Franklin the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in 2005.

Music & Culture

Aretha Franklin, The 'Queen Of Soul,' Dies At 76

6:03pm August 16, 2018

by Ted Robbins

One of the most powerful and beloved voices of all time died Thursday in Detroit.

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Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is seen at his residence in New Delhi in July 2007.

World News

Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Dies

1:37pm August 16, 2018

by Lauren Frayer

Vajpayee served as premier three times. He was a poet and nature lover who tested nuclear bombs. He sparked an arms race with Pakistan, but later launched peace talks and a cross-border bus service.

Aretha Franklin performs at the national Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Washington, D.C., in 2013. Franklin died on Thursday in Detroit.

Music & Culture

Aretha Franklin Was America's Truest Voice

12:59pm August 16, 2018

by Ann Powers

Her music has been sung at marches and political rallies, heard in churches and on chain restaurant jukeboxes. Everything popular music can be is there in the songs of Aretha Franklin.

Music & Culture

Biographer On Aretha Franklin's Legacy

12:22pm August 16, 2018

Aretha Franklin passed away on Thursday morning. David Ritz wrote her 2014 biography and he talks to NPR's Noel King about the singer's legacy.

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Music & Culture

Remembering The 'Queen Of Soul'

12:22pm August 16, 2018

Aretha Franklin passed away at her home in Detroit, Michigan on Thursday morning. She was 76. NPR's Noel King talks to Daphne Brooks, who wrote the liner notes for a boxed set of Franklin's work.

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Music & Culture

Remembering Aretha Franklin

12:22pm August 16, 2018

by Ann Powers

Aretha Franklin died of pancreatic cancer Thursday. Her hits, from the 1960s to the 1980s, helped define the era. NPR's Noel King talks to NPR music critic Ann Powers about the singer's legacy.

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Remembering Nobel Laureate And Author V.S. Naipaul

5:08pm August 12, 2018

Nobel Prize-winning author V.S. Naipaul has died. NPR's Lakshmi Singh speaks with author Paul Theroux about Naipaul's influence on the literary world.

V.S. Naipaul, seen here in 1968, once told NPR, "It's important to avoid the wallow. It repels the reader."

Books
Arts

V.S. Naipaul, Controversial Author And Nobel Laureate, Dies At 85

10:05pm August 11, 2018

by Lynn Neary

Naipaul was born in Trinidad, and his relationship to his birthplace was nothing if not complicated. He was often criticized for the way he depicted developing countries in his novels.