19-Year-Old Aretha Franklin Rehearsing With Motown Choreographer Charles “Cholly” Atkins, 1961

After turning 18, Franklin confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke in recording pop music, and moved to New York. Serving as her manager, C. L. Franklin agreed to the move and helped to produce a two-song demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, who agreed to sign her in 1960, as a “five-percent artist.” During this period, Franklin would be coached by choreographer Cholly “Cholly” Atkins to prepare for her pop performances.

Before signing with Columbia, Sam Cooke tried to persuade Franklin’s father to sign her with his label, RCA Victor, but she had already decided to go with Columbia. Berry Gordy had also asked Franklin and her elder sister Erma to sign with his Tamla label, but C.L. Franklin turned Gordy down, as he felt Tamla was not yet an established label. Franklin’s first Columbia single, “Today I Sing the Blues,” was issued in September 1960 and later reached the top 10 of the Hot Rhythm & Blues Sellers chart.

In January 1961, Columbia issued Franklin’s first album, Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo. The album featured her first single to chart the Billboard Hot 100, “Won’t Be Long,” which also peaked at number 7 on the R&B chart. Mostly produced by Clyde Otis, Franklin’s Columbia recordings saw her performing in diverse genres, such as standards, vocal jazz, blues, doo-wop and rhythm and blues. Before the year was out, Franklin scored her first hit-single with her rendition of the standard “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody.” By the end of 1961, Franklin was named as a “new-star female vocalist” in DownBeat magazine.

In 1962, Columbia issued two more albums, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin and The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin, the latter of which reached number 69 on the Billboard chart.

In the 1960s, during a performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago, WVON radio personality Pervis Spann announced that Franklin should be crowned “the Queen of Soul.” Spann ceremonially placed a crown on her head.

By the mid-1960s, Franklin was making $100,000 per year from countless performances in nightclubs and theaters. Also during that period, she appeared on rock-and-roll shows, such as Hollywood a Go-Go and Shindig! However, she struggled with commercial success while at Columbia. Label executive John H. Hammond later said he felt Columbia did not understand Franklin’s early gospel background and failed to bring that aspect out further during her period there.