the river was deep i didn t falter when the mountain was high i still believed when the valley was low it didn t stop me i knew you were waiting i knew you were waiting for me musicians, politicians, music lovers everywhere have been sharing their remembrances of aretha franklin on twitter after we learned that the undisputed queen of soul died at her detroit home this morning. aretha franklin was 76 years old. she had been battling pancreatic cancer. funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days. president trump talked about the iconic singer during a cabinet meeting this afternoon. she s brought joy to millions of lives and her extraordinary legacy will thrive and inspire many generations to come. she was given a great gift from god, her voice, and she used it
pop. reporter: she was honored by one president in 2005. our nation honors miss aretha franklin. reporter: and later my country tis of thee reporter: franklin held celebrate a historic commander in chief. in 2011 concerns mounted about her health after she cancelled a series of concerts. but intensely private, franklin never revealed the cause of her pain. once asked if there was one milestone in her stunning career that stood out, franklin couldn t say. everything. remember everything. everything. reporter: aretha franklin was the queen of soul, and so much more. you make me feel reporter: rehema ellis, nbc news, new york. you make me feel like a natural woman
songs of the 20th century. it s incredible. i mean out of all of this music, please. i could have fallen over on the floor. you could have pushed me over with a feather. reporter: franklin was born in memphis in 1942, but her musical journey began in detroit, performing in her father s baptist church. i had no real formal training. my formal training was my ear. reporter: she recorded her first gospel album when she was just 14 years old. a switch to rhythm and blues in the 60s led to a string of top ten hits, including natural woman and chain of fools. yet another classic earned franklin a memorable turn alongside john belushi in the blues brothers movie. franklin was the first female inductee in the rock n roll hall of fame. she ultimately sort of traced a line from gospel to soul to
whole investigation in a very careful methodical way. and they haven t really fully addressed the michael cohen issue. michael cohen may have a lot of stuff, additional stuff. so we don t know what manafort has to say but it could be very worrisome. obviously the way the president is acting like, his actions against brennan, he really seems to have lost control. he s obviously very worried, and he should be. liz, thank you for this. we will continue to watch how this jury reacts. they have been in deliberations for five hours now. coming up, some staggering new statistics paint a very grim picture of the opioid crisis in america. what s fueling it and how can communities fight it? we ll talk to a doctor who s helping figure out the answers. first, we remember the queen of soul, aretha franklin. she passed away this morning at the age of 76. coming up next, a superstar panel, including herbie hancock, marvin staples are joining me to talk about the enormous impact aretha had on am
aretha being who aretha is, came back in 1971 to do a famed she s home concert. that s when she really kind of had a really big explosion and came home back to the apollo. at the apollo we call her the queen of the apollo because of what she represents. you know, she represents a soul of the american people. and that s who we are. for 50 years this woman has been performing. 50 years. all of these changes in america over that time. that s right. and she has adapted to that. she was a feminist icon, a civil rights supporter and she was an adapting and evolving musician the whole time. that s right. and continually evolving as you pointed out. and that s a real evolution of a musician but of a true artist with always her ear to the ground and always ready to serve and serve the people. i think people responded to her generosity in the world, which is why i think we re seeing all of this outpouring today. it s unbelievable. herbie hancock, what are your thoughts on the passi