Aretha Franklin Eyes Retirement

After nearly 60 years in the business, Aretha Franklin is ready to wrap up her recording and touring career. During an interview this week with Detroit TV station WDIV Local 4, the legendary soul singer revealed that she is retiring this year.

Rick Diamond / Getty Images for The Fox Theatre – Aretha Franklin
Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Ga.

“This will be my last year,” Franklin said. “I will be recording, but this will be my last year in concert. This is it.”

She added that she will do “some select things, many one a month, for six months out of the year.”

The Queen Of Soul told the station that she wants to spend more time with her grandchildren, who are leaving for college, and that she feels “very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from, and where it is now.”

But before retiring she has one more album to put out. The collection of all-new material will be recorded exclusively in Detroit, with several tracks produced by Stevie Wonder.

Here’s how Aretha’s tour schedule stands today:

March 12 – Poughkeespsie, N.Y., Bardavon, 1869 Opera House
March 23 – Uncasville, Conn., Mohegan Sun Arena
March 31 – Chicago, Ill., The Chicago Theatre
April 13 – Grand Rapids, Mich., DeVos Performance Hall
May 13 – Westbury, N.Y., NYCB Theatre at Westbury
June 24 – Chautauqua, N.Y., Chautauqua Amphitheater