The “Queen Of Soul” Aretha Franklin Had A Career That Deserves Your Respect

She Married Her First Manager

Photo Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Five years after she released her very first album recorded in her father’s Baptist church, Aretha Franklin would marry her manager, Ted White, in 1961. Their union was often described as troubled, and it’s believed that those problems had helped inspire Franklin in her performances.

After seven years of marriage, the two would separate because of domestic violence issues within the relationship. She would have one child, Ted White Jr, who is known professionally as Teddy Richards and has played guitar for his mother’s band.