Celebrating Aretha Franklin's birthday

The legendary Queen of Soul was born on this day in 1942.

• To commemorate, we're bringing some facts you may not know about the " voice of Detroit ," who died in 2018.

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🇺🇸 Franklin sang at three presidents' inaugurations, as well as the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr., according to the Detroit Historical Society .

✈️ She developed an intense fear of flying after a bout of high turbulence in the 1980s and even took a class to try to overcome it, per Biography.com . She took buses instead of planes.

🍬 Franklin hung around with friends in the North End growing up in the 1950s, going to the Echo Theatre and a sweets shop at Oakland and Belmont, according to the Detroit News .

🎤 She gave many an inspiring quote, including when she told Elle magazine : "In terms of helping people understand and know each other a little better, music is universal — universal and transporting."

Left photo: Franklin performs at MotorCity Casino's Sound Board Theater in 2013. Right photo: Franklin recording at Columbia Studios in 1962 in New York. Photos: Scott Legato/Wire Image via Getty and Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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