Aretha Franklin Spent Her Childhood in This Michigan House

Aretha was one of my favorites; not just because of her music, but also her personality and the way she handled people. Sassy, smart, and soulful.

In the past, I've showed you two other homes she lived in: where she was as a baby and where she lived as a rich, successful songstress.

Now see the Michigan house she lived in, growing up as a teenager. Even though she hadn't lived in the house for years afterward, she still owned it and refused to put it up for sale, content to let it just sit empty. After paying a visit to her old Detroit neighborhood and looking once again at the house she lived in with her father – the Reverend Clarence Franklin – she soon put it on the market.

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Aretha was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1942; when she was two, the family moved to New York. In 1947 when she was five, her father acquired the position of pastor of the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, and the family packed up for Michigan.

In 1952, eight days before Aretha turned 10 years old, her mother passed away. At 12, she began singing in her father's church and joined him on the road, singing in his 'gospel caravan' shows. Once she turned 18 in 1960, she went after a singing career full force and she never questioned her desires or feeling...they paid off extremely well throughout the rest of her life.

Below is a photo gallery of Aretha's childhood home in Detroit, where she lived from ages 5-18. And, just for comparison, take a look at the house where she was born in Memphis, and also her extravagant Detroit mansion where she spent some of her adult life HERE.

Aretha passed away on August 16, 2018.