*The Queen of Soul says she’s hanging up her crown…at least when it comes to singing in front of crowds.
“I must tell you, I am retiring this year,” Aretha Franklin, 74, told Detroit’s WDIV Local 4. “This will be my last year. I will be recording, but this will be my last year in concert. This is it.”
Franklin says she’s releasing a new album in September and will have a limited tour to promote it, “the one or two concerts every month or so.” But after that, she’s calling it quits as far as live shows.
The singer said the retirement will be hard because, “it’s what I’ve done all of my life,” but she’s looking forward to spending more quality time with her grandchildren, who are leaving 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.”
As for her upcoming album, Franklin revealed that Stevie Wonder is producing some of the tracks, and all the songs on the new album will be originals.
“It’s kind of multi-(directional),” she said. “We’re not pigeonholed to any one thing.”
Franklin said she’ll be recording exclusively in Detroit.
“I keep my business in Detroit, or as close to Detroit as possible,” Franklin said.
Listen to Franklin announce her retirement below:
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