Aretha Franklin vs Jimi Hendrix
Two music prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Aretha Franklin | Jimi Hendrix | |
| Field | Music | Music |
| Sub-field | Rock | Pop |
| Born | 1942 | 1942 |
| Died | 2018 | 1970 |
| Country of birth | United States | United States |
| Star sign | Aries | Sagittarius |
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 →
Jimi Hendrix
The first instrument Jimi Hendrix ever played was a ukulele with a single string. He found it while helping his father clean out a house in Seattle in 1957, and he spent weeks working out the melody to "Honky Tonk Women" on that single string before his father relented and bought him a five-dollar acoustic guitar. He was fifteen years old, completely self-taught, and he could already hear in his head sounds that no existing guitarist had yet produced. Within four years, by his own account, he had listened to every blues record he could…
Full biography of Jimi Hendrix →
What they share
- Both are held here under Music.
- Both born in United States.
- Born in the same year, 1942.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Questions people ask
- What field is each of them in?
- Aretha Franklin is filed under Music (Rock). Jimi Hendrix is filed under Music (Pop).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.