Trump, Obama, Clinton, others pay tribute to Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin died earlier today after a prolonged battle with cancer.

US President, Donald Trump and former Presidents of the United States, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have paid tributes to the late Aretha Franklin.

US President Donald Trump paid tribute to music icon Aretha Franklin upon her death Thursday as “a great woman, with a wonderful gift from God, her voice.”

“She will be missed!” he tweeted of the legendary singer, who died at home in Detroit at age 76.

Barack Obama on Thursday paid tribute to the late “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin, praising her “unmatched musicianship” that he said “helped define the American experience.”

“Every time she sang, we were all graced with a glimpse of the divine,” the former US president said in a statement.

“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.

She helped us feel more connected to each other, more hopeful, more human.”

“And sometimes she helped us just forget about everything else and dance.”

Bill and Hillary Clinton wrote:

“Hillary and I mourn the loss of our friend Aretha Franklin, one of America’s greatest national treasures,” said the former US president in a joint statement with his wife, the former secretary of state.

“For more than 50 years, she stirred our souls. She was elegant, graceful, and utterly uncompromising in her artistry.”

Here are other top tributes to the “Queen of Soul”:

Barbra Streisand

“It’s difficult to conceive of a world without her. Not only was she a uniquely brilliant singer, but her commitment to civil rights made an indelible impact on the world,” the singer and actress tweeted.