Aretha Franklin to release holiday album

DMI Records, a division of the leading music branding agency DMI Music & Media Solutions, announced today that they will be releasing, 18-time GRAMMY award winning performer and recording artist, Aretha Franklin’s long-awaited holiday album on October 14, 2008.

Featuring classic and contemporary holiday favorites, Franklin’s first holiday album in her illustrious career, will take the listener on a journey of Franklin’s musical evolution, featuring songs infused with her trademark gospel, soul, R&B, and classical styles. It is sure to become a “must-have” addition to the collections of any Aretha Franklin fan and a staple in countless homes for many holidays to come.

Known around the world by her first name, Aretha has achieved global recognition on an unprecedented scale. She is one of the most influential and important voices in the history of pop music. Her ever-distinctive soulful, to-the-bone vocal style has graced the music charts for over four decades and her live performances have touched the hearts of tens of millions since she began her musical journey in Detroit as a gospel-singing child prodigy.

Franklin has earned countless international and national awards as well as accolades and global recognition on an unprecedented scale including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Kennedy Center Honor, the American National Medal of the Arts Award, 18 GRAMMY® Awards including Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for eight consecutive years, a GRAMMY Legend Award, a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award, and five American Music Awards. In 1987, she was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1979 she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Earlier this year, Franklin was named “2008 MusiCares® Person of the Year” by the Recording Academy and she was presented with the prestigious NAACP Vanguard Award.

Franklin joins the growing list of major artists who are collaborating with DMI for upcoming projects. Founded by Tena Clark, one of the first female record producers in the music industry, DMI is home to a talented roster of music and marketing executives. Clark and Franklin will together produce the upcoming holiday album.

“Tena Clark is a consummate professional, producer in the realm of music,” says Franklin. “She is musician and track savvy in addition to the forgoing, she is one of the great lyricists in the business and I am delighted with this new musical association and very much appreciate the fact that she desires to bring the best to the project on every front.”

“Aretha Franklin is a living legend who makes an impact on fans worldwide with every performance and every album,” said Clark. “Having been privileged to work with Aretha, I know the passion she brings to every project, and I am committed to making her first-ever holiday album a special experience for her and her fans.”