Aretha Franklin Prepares to Drop New Album

By: Rajul Punjabi

POSTED: 12:24 EST, December 22, 2006

Aretha Franklin is ready to prove she’s still in the R&B game. The soul songstress prepares for the release of her new album, Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love, set to hit stores in the beginning of 2007.

The album features a solid guest list of gospel singers like Shirley Caesar, Karen Clark-Sheard and the rest of Detroit's Clark Sisters, as well as multi-platinum artist Faith Hill.

Franklin will drop this album on her own label, Aretha’s Records, with some help from veteran studio hand Michael Powell, who worked on numerous R&B projects including her 1998 hit, “A Rose is Still a Rose”.

A Woman Falling Out of Love will come out riding on the crest of Franklin's Golden Globe nomination for best original song in a motion picture for "Never Gonna Break My Faith," her duet, co-written by Bryan Adams, with Mary J. Blige for the Bobby film soundtrack.

"My agent called me and told me that Miramax Pictures was calling and they wanted me to sing for that [film]," Franklin says to Billboard.com. "I was just delighted, having met several of the Kennedy's on occasion and I also sang at the first memorial service for him. And singing with Mary J. Blige, I think we made a very good coupling."

Franklin was also honored at the United Negro College Fund's "An Evening of Stars," which was taped in September in Los Angeles for a broadcast that will air on Jan. 27 and 28 on BET.

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