What is the name of Aretha Franklin's first husband?

Aretha Franklin's first husband was Ted White. White was a music manager who married Franklin in 1961, when she was 19, and became closely involved in guiding her professional career. Their marriage connected Franklin's personal life with the business decisions surrounding her early recording years.

White helped manage Franklin during her transition from Columbia Records to Atlantic Records in the mid-1960s. That move proved pivotal: producer Jerry Wexler worked with Franklin at Atlantic, where her gospel-rooted singing and powerful interpretations produced a run of major soul hits, including "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" and "Respect."

Franklin and White had a troubled relationship and divorced in 1969. He is sometimes confused with Glynn Turman, Franklin's second husband, whom she married in 1978. C. L. Franklin was her father, while Otis Redding was a fellow singer whose song "Respect" became one of Franklin's signature recordings.