Music

Aretha Franklin to release new album

Published Thursday, Apr 28 2011, 07:58 BST | By Kate Goodacre | Add comment

Aretha Franklin is to release a new record next month.

Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love is the soul singer's first studio album since 2003's So Damn Happy. It will also be her first release on her own label Aretha Records, which she founded in 2005.

The album will be released through Walmart stores in the US on May 3. It reportedly features her version of My Country 'Tis Of Thee, a song which she performed at Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony in 2009.

According to The AP, Franklin has also confirmed a live show at the DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan on August 25.

It was reported late last year that the musician had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. However, she refused to publicly discuss her health, merely stating that "the problem has been resolved" following surgery for an unnamed condition in December 2010.

Franklin also recently denied reports that she had undergone gastric bypass surgery, but revealed that her new health regime had opened "a new chapter in my life".

Watch Aretha Franklin perform 'I Say a Little Prayer' on The Cliff Richard Show in 1970 below: