"Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin dead at 76 after battle with cancer

The Queen of Soul has died.

Aretha Franklin, the gifted singer who's been described as a feminist icon and voice of the civil rights movement, passed away at age 76 at her home in Detroit on Thursday morning after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

News broke on Monday that Franklin had fallen seriously ill and was admitted to hospice care, where family and friends — including Stevie Wonder and the Rev. Jesse Jackson — visited her.

"In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart,” Franklin’s family wrote in a statement. “We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family.”

In her seven-decade career, Franklin won 18 Grammy Awards, and in 1987 she became the first woman admitted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Her powerful vocals in songs like “Respect” (written by Otis Redding), “(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman,” and “Chain of Fools” have been credited with impelling the women’s liberation and civil rights movements.

She stood at the forefront of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and often traveled with Martin Luther King Jr. during that time to sing at his events.

She also performed at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009 and famously moved the 44th president to tears during a performance in 2015.

Civil rights activists, lawmakers, and music icons took to Twitter on Thursday to express their grief and appreciation for Franklin.

Cover image: In this July 27, 2010 photo, Aretha Franklin performs at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)