Aretha Franklin vs Elvis Presley
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Aretha Franklin | Elvis Presley | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Rock | Composer |
| Born | 1942 | 1935 |
| Died | 2018 | 1977 |
| Country of birth | United States | United States |
| Star sign | Aries | Capricorn |
Who they are
Aretha Franklin
There are voices, and then there is Aretha Franklin. Born on March 25, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Aretha Louise Franklin possessed something that cannot be taught, manufactured, or replicated — a raw, torrential instrument that transformed every room it entered. By the time she was twelve years old, singing in her father's New Bethel Baptist Church, gospel insiders already whispered that they were witnessing something singular. By the time she was twenty-five, the entire world had no choice but to agree.
Full biography of Aretha Franklin →
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley entered the world on January 8, 1935, in a two-room shotgun house in Tupelo, Mississippi, born minutes after his identical twin brother, Jesse Garon, who was stillborn. That early brush with loss seemed to imbue the surviving twin with an extra measure of life — a presence so magnetic, so physical, so inexplicably charged that it would eventually stop a nation in its tracks. Elvis Presley did not simply become a pop star. He became the moment when American music changed forever.
Full biography of Elvis Presley →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Both born in United States.
- Near contemporaries - 7 years apart.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Aretha Franklin or Elvis Presley?
- Elvis Presley. Aretha Franklin was born in 1942, Elvis Presley in 1935.
- What field is each of them in?
- Aretha Franklin is filed under Music (Rock). Elvis Presley is filed under Music (Composer).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.