Aretha Franklin mourned by Obama: She 'helped define the American experience'

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Aretha Franklin dead at 76, remembering the 'Queen of Soul'

'Queen of Soul' Aretha Franklin has died at the age of 76. Here is a look back at her iconic life and career.

Barack Obama took to Twitter to praise the late Aretha Franklin for her contribution not only to the music world, but toward the civil rights movement as well. Franklin died Thursday at age 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

"Aretha helped define the American experience. In her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade—our power and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our hard-won respect. May the Queen of Soul rest in eternal peace," Obama wrote in a tweet that also featured a slideshow of memorable Franklin moments

ARETHA FRANKLIN REMEMBERED BY MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.'S KIDS FOR LENDING 'VOICE' FOR CIVIL RIGHTS

Former first lady Michelle Obama echoed her husband's sentiment.

"Watching Aretha Franklin perform at the White House, and on so many other occasions, made time stand still. @BarackObama and I are holding Aretha’s family in our hearts right now. She will forever be our Queen of Soul," she added.

Franklin previously brought Barack Obama to tears with her rendition of Carole King's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors.

“American history wells up when Aretha sings. That’s why, when she sits down at a piano and sings ‘A Natural Woman,’ she can move me to tears — the same way that Ray Charles’s version of ‘America the Beautiful’ will always be in my view the most patriotic piece of music ever performed — because it captures the fullness of the American experience, the view from the bottom as well as the top, the good and the bad, and the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence," Obama said of his emotional reaction to The New Yorker in 2016.

That wasn't the first time Franklin has touched Obama with her music.

ARETHA FRANKLIN, 'QUEEN OF SOUL,' DEAD AT 76

The "Queen of Soul" also sang "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" at his inauguration on January 20, 2009.

The singer told Larry King at the time that she couldn't properly articulate the feeling she had watching the first African-American president being sworn in.

"There's a love affair going on with the country and Barack. I think it's the age of Barack. People have just fallen head over heels in love with him. His ascent to the presidency was miraculous. But we have to remember that he's not going to work miracles right off the top. It's going to take time," she told King on Jan. 22, 2009.

Aretha Franklin brought former President Barack Obama to tears with her rendition of Carole King's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors.