All About Aretha Franklin’s 4 Kids, Including Her 3 Sons Who Built Their Own Music Careers
All About Aretha Franklin’s 4 Kids, Including Her 3 Sons Who Built Their Own Music Careers
Giovana GelhorenFri, November 13, 2026 at 10:40 PM UTC
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Aretha Franklin at the Park West Auditorium, Chicago, Illinois, on March 23, 1992.Credit: Getty ImagesTHE GIST -
Aretha welcomed her first son, Clarence Franklin, when she was only a pre-teen at 12 years old.
She then welcomed her second son, Edward Franklin, at the age of 15. Her third son, Ted White Jr., arrived in 1964 during her marriage to Ted White between 1961 and 1969.
In 1970, she gave birth to her youngest son, Kecalf Cunningham, with her road manager, Ken Cunningham.
On March 25, 1942, the world welcomed a bright light with the birth of the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. The singer, known for singles like “Respect,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” and “I Say a Little Prayer,” will forever be cemented in music history.
But while her velvet voice will live on, her legacy is also defined by her four kids. After all, Aretha was a mom long before becoming a chart-topping singer.
Aretha welcomed her first son, Clarence Franklin, when she was only a pre-teen at 12 years old. A few years later, she gave birth to her second son, Edward Franklin, at the age of 15. In 1961, when she was 19 years old, Aretha married music manager Ted White, and the pair welcomed a son, Ted White Jr., in 1964. Aretha and Ted divorced in 1969, and just one year later, the singer gave birth to her youngest son, Kecalf Cunningham, with her road manager Ken Cunningham.
On August 16, 2018, Aretha died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 76.
“In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart,” Franklin’s family said in a statement at the time, per People. “We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds.”
Below, find out everything there is to know about Aretha Franklin’s four sons.
Clarence Franklin
Clarence Franklin hugs an attendee at his mother’s funeral on August 31, 2018, in Detroit, Michigan.Credit: JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images
Aretha became a mom at just 12 years old when she welcomed her first son, Clarence Franklin, on January 28, 1955, in Detroit, Michigan. According to People, she named him after her father, Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, a minister and civil rights activist.
Given her young age, Aretha struggled with being a teenager and being a mom. “I still wanted to get out and hang out with my friends,” she told Ebony in 1995. “I wanted to be in two places at the same time. But my grandmother helped me a lot, and my sister and my cousin. They would babysit so I could get out occasionally.”
After having Clarence, who wrote several songs over the years, including some recorded by his mother, Aretha continued pursuing her education. “She was an excellent student who did well in all her classes,” Aretha’s sister Erma said in David Ritz’s 2014 biography Respect.
According to Rev. James Holley for The New York Times in 2019, Clarence grew up with his two brothers, Kecalf and Edward, in Detroit and formed a “tight-knit unit.” Their connection, however, faded when Clarence, per court papers, was diagnosed with an undisclosed mental illness and moved into a series of assisted living facilities. By the time of his mother’s passing, Clarence was living in a group home outside Detroit.
In Aretha’s 2014 handwritten will, which was found in her couch cushions and later declared valid in 2023, she instructed her other sons to check on Clarence’s welfare weekly and “oversee his needs.” In other words, Clarence was not listed as a beneficiary of Aretha’s estate, but his brothers were instructed to take care of him.
Edward Franklin
Edward Franklin at his mother’s funeral service on August 31, 2018, in Detroit, Michigan.Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Two years after welcoming her first son, Aretha welcomed her second, Edward Franklin. He was born on January 22, 1957, in Detroit, Michigan.
After his arrival, Aretha dropped out of school to follow her music career. As a result, her two sons were mostly taken care of by her grandmother, nicknamed “Big Mama.” “We were part of that generation of young female singers who definitely sacrificed time with our kids to attend to our careers. We did so knowingly,” Erma said in Respect. “We also did so with heavy guilt.”
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Unlike his older brother, Edward, also known as Eddie, followed in his mother’s footsteps and became a gospel singer. Over the years, he also recorded songs with his mother, including the duet “This Christmas” in 2008 from her holiday album, This Christmas, Aretha. “I’ve worked with her before ... we actually knocked the song out in two or three takes,” he said in a 2008 interview. He also talked about being known as the “Prince of Soul,” taking after his mom. “I gel with that,” he said.
Per The Washington Post in 2018, Edward sang in some special moments for his family. Among them was his performance of “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” reportedly one of his mother’s favorite gospel songs, at his grandfather Rev. C.L. Franklin’s funeral in 2015, and his performance of Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me” at his mother’s funeral.
Teddy Richards
Teddy Richards at Aretha Franklin Performs at B.B. King’s on June 25, 2004, in New York City.Credit: Derek Storm/FilmMagic
At 19 years old, Aretha married her first husband, Ted White, in 1961. Three years later, they welcomed their first son together, named Ted “Teddy” White, Jr., in 1964. Professionally, Teddy goes by Teddy Richards.
Aretha and White had a turbulent marriage, with Aretha accusing her husband of domestic abuse. They got divorced in 1969. After their split, Teddy was raised mostly by his father, missing out on the tight-knit connection with his brothers.
Despite their distance, Teddy went on to follow his mother’s footsteps into music, making a name for himself as a guitarist, songwriter, and producer. According to his personal website, he served as a guitarist to Al Green, Natalie Cole, Joe Cocker, and Nellie Furtado, and served as the opening act for Seal, Lenny Kravitz, INXS, The Verve Pipe, and A.J. Croce. He also played guitar in Aretha’s touring band for approximately 25 years, making him one of the few family members most directly involved in her professional career.
He has also written, recorded, and produced music extensively for CBS Sunday Football, written and produced jingles for Folgers Coffee, Ford Motor Company, Ritz-Carlton Naples, JW Marriott Marco Island, and appeared on Bobby Flay’s Food Nation and MSNBC’s Mitch Albom Show.
Throughout it all, Teddy felt the weight of his mother’s success. “I learned quite early, especially when dealing with journalists or people tied to the industry, it was very easy to be exploited as ‘the son of Aretha,’” he told the Detroit Free Press in 2021. “If you’re trying to do something in your own name, making your own way in the world, it’s going to be impossible if that’s how people know you. It would allow them to ignore your accomplishments.”
“To some folks, it might look like, ‘He was denying his own mother.’ It’s not that at all,” he continued. “I love both my parents dearly. But it’s important to be your own man, stand on your own feet, handle your own business.”
Kecalf Franklin
Kecalf Franklin at the ‘Evolution of Gospel - A Tribute to Aretha Franklin’ at The Kennedy Center on September 10, 2018.Credit: Brian Stukes/Getty Images
Aretha welcomed her youngest son, Kecalf Cunningham, who also goes by Kecalf Franklin, on March 28, 1970. His name is a combination of his mom’s initials, A.L.F., and his father Ken E. Cunningham’s. Ken was Aretha’s road manager at the time.
Much like Teddy, Kecalf proved that Aretha’s singing chops were passed down, and he became a gospel rapper and singer. Per Oprah Daily, Kecalf and his mom performed together a few times over the years, including at Radio City Music Hall in 2008.
He’s also been the most vocal family member of Aretha when it comes to her estate and her portrayal onscreen. He criticized the National Geographic biographical anthology series Genius: Aretha Franklin, as well as the 2021 biopic film Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson. “How can you make a movie about a person and not talk to the person’s [sic] sons or grandchildren about important information?” Kecalf wrote on social media in 2020, per People. “How can you put a person’s [sic] family (image) in a book and not ask permission?”
Following his mother’s death, Kecalf became one of the major players in the dispute over Aretha’s estate. As it turns out, the handwritten will found in Aretha’s sofa, which was dated 2014, had Kecalf as the estate’s representative. Previously, Aretha’s niece Sabrina Owens served as the estate executor following her death.
In July 2023, a jury ruled the 2014 will valid, allowing Kecalf and his children to inherit his mother’s Michigan home, which was valued at $1.1 million in 2018.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
