ARETHA FRANKLIN

ARETHA FRANKLIN had an incredible music career spanning six decades and 18 Grammy Awards, but the star's beginnings were far more tragic than many know.

While Aretha Franklin is now a household name, her tragic beginnings saw the singer getting pregnant for the first time at age 12. During a 1967 performance, the Chain of Fools singer was said to be drunk as she literally fell off the stage. Aretha hinted that at the age of 12 she had a romantic relationship with singer-songwriter Sam Cooke, who was 23 at the time. She said: "Aretha was using booze to numb the pain of her lousy marriage. Aretha and her siblings remained with her father in Detroit, although it is reported that Barbara would occasionally visit the children she had left behind and they would visit her during school holidays. As a result of her father’s career, young Aretha was often surrounded by many famous faces of the era, including Martin Luther King Jr.