As the career of singer, songwriter, and pianist Aretha Franklin makes evident, the black church—its ministers, its members, and its music—have had a profound influence on popular music. A fruit of the black Baptist church, Franklin is one of the most important female artists to translate gospel music—with all its intensity—into soul music. Her talent was nurtured by a who's who of gospel song—Clara Ward, James Cleveland, and Mahalia Jackson—and her father, Reverend C. L. Franklin, was a gospel singer in his own right. For the past thirty years, Franklin has reigned as the "Queen of Soul," winning more Grammy Awards than any other female vocalist—at least one a year from 1967 through 1974 and then in 1981, 1985, and 1987. From 1960 to 1992, 89 of her songs were in the pop or R&B Top Forty, with twenty of them reaching number one...