NEW YORK - Music legend and one-time New York City resident Aretha Franklin has died at the age of 76.

The singer of such classic hits like "Respect" and "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" died Thursday at her Detroit home from advanced pancreatic cancer, according to her publicist.

Franklin was widely known as the Queen of Soul, but her vocal range and ability led Rolling Stone magazine to crown her as the greatest singer of the rock era. 

Her death marks the end of an amazing musical journey that spanned more than a half century. 

Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis in 1942, but her heart and soul belonged to Detroit where she grew up. 

She sang and played the piano in her dad's church, but by the time she entered her late teens, she hopped aboard the rhythm and blues express train to stardom. 

After some modest success from 1961-66, Franklin joined Atlantic records in 1967 and released the hit single "I Never Loved a Man," which rocketed to the top of the pop and R&B charts and made her a household name. 

But her second single with Atlantic became her signature tune. 

'Respect' was originally recorded by Otis Redding, but Franklin made it all her own and the song earned her her first in a string of Grammy awards.

Even as she was hailed as an R&B superstar, Franklin never forgot her gospel roots. 

In 1972, she released 'Amazing Grace' and it rocked the music world, selling more than 2 million albums and becoming the greatest selling gospel album of all time.

In the mid-'70s Franklin was still revered, but she struggled to find herself her footing in a culture that was suddenly overtaken by disco.

But a cameo appearance in the monster hit movie "The Blues Brothers" helped launch a comeback in 1980, and the songbird returned to the top 10 with "Jump."

And Aretha Franklin never stopped jumping to it. 

For a time, Franklin lived in Manhattan, on 88th Street between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue.

In 2013, she told NY1's Dean Meminger that she planted a tree there before she left.

 

 

Franklin was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and is one of the most honored singers of her time. 

The Presidential Medal of Freedom winner had collected 18 Grammys along with two honorary Grammys. 

But what was perhaps the honor of the lifetime for the Democrat occurred during the inauguration of the nation's first black president. 

Franklin was the only featured singer during Barack Obama's swearing in. 

Aretha Franklin demanded respect and she got it.