Carolyn Ann Franklin (May 13, 1944 – April 25, 1988) was an American Gospel and Rhythm & Blues singer and songwriter.
Carolyn was born on May 13, 1944 in Memphis, Tennessee. She was the youngest sibling of legendary Queen Of Soul Aretha Franklin, and the daughter of Rev. C. L. Franklin, the famous Detroit preacher, and Barbara Siggers Franklin, a pianist and gifted Gospel vocalist. Carolyn and her family moved to Detroit, Michigan while Carolyn was still a baby.
Carolyn Franklin recorded in her own right, releasing numerous albums throughout the 1970s and serving as one of Aretha's background vocalists for some years as well as writing some of her songs, including Ain't No Way and the 1973 #1 R&B hit Angel.
Carolyn was living at her father's West Side home in Detroit, Michigan when he was shot in 1979. She appeared as one of Aretha's background singers in the successful 1980 movie The Blues Brothers starring John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd.
Having never married, Carolyn died in Aretha's Bloomfield Hills, Michigan home from breast cancer on April 25, 1988. She was only 44 years old. Just ten days before Carolyn's untimely passing she was awarded a B.A. in Music Education from Detroit's esteemed MaryGrove College on Six Mile Road. Her brother, Rev. Cecil Franklin, died in late 1989 of a heart attack although he was fighting lung cancer. Her oldest sister, Erma Franklin, would die of throat cancer in 2002. Her eldest brother, Vaughn Franklin, was a career pilot with the US Air Force and today travels with his ultra-famous sister.
Carolyn - like her other deceased family members - is interred at Detroit's historic Woodlawn Cemetery on North Woodward Avenue.
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