Aretha Franklin has the Sun in Aries, the Moon in Cancer and Scorpio rising: the Queen of Soul, with a chart that joins Aries courage to Cancer feeling, and a voice that could hold both at once.

She was born at 10:30 in the evening on 25 March 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee. Astro-Databank rates the time AA, from a birth record in hand. She grew up in Detroit, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was the minister of New Bethel Baptist Church, and she sang gospel there as a child. After signing with Atlantic Records in 1966 she recorded "Respect", "Chain of Fools" and "Think", won 18 Grammy Awards, and in 1987 became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She died in 2018.

Sun in Aries in the 5th house

Her Sun sits early in Aries, the sign of courage and the first move, in the 5th house, the house of performance and creative self-expression. It is a placement for someone who comes alive on a stage. The Sun trines Pluto, which adds depth and power: a quiet intensity that made even her softer songs feel like statements. Her version of "Respect" became an anthem for both the civil rights and the women's movements, and she sang at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral in 1968.

Moon in Cancer in the 8th house

Cancer is the Moon's own sign, and it is the Moon at its most feeling and most loyal to family and roots. Hers sits in the 8th house, the house of deep bonds, loss and transformation. It suits a singer whose power came from the church she grew up in and who went back to it: in 1972 she recorded Amazing Grace live over two nights in a church, and it became one of the best-selling gospel albums of all time.

Scorpio rising, with a Leo Midheaven

Scorpio rising is private, watchful and hard to read, and Franklin was famously guarded about her own life, giving few interviews. Her Midheaven, the public image, is in Leo, the sign of royalty and the spotlight: the "Queen of Soul" is a very Leo title. Opposite her Ascendant, in the 7th house of partners and collaborators, sit Mars and Jupiter in Gemini and Saturn and Uranus in Taurus: a life lived alongside a great many musicians, producers and duet partners.

Compare your chart with hers

If you share her Aries Sun, her Cancer Moon or her Scorpio rising, add your details below to see how your chart meets hers. Whitney Houston, who grew up singing gospel too, has her chart here.