What was the name of Aretha Franklin's father, a famous Baptist preacher?

The name of Aretha Franklin’s famous Baptist-preacher father was C. L. Franklin. Born Clarence LaVaughn Walker in 1915, he later took the surname Franklin and became one of America’s best-known Baptist ministers and civil-rights activists.

C. L. Franklin served as pastor of Detroit’s New Bethel Baptist Church from 1946 until 1979. His powerful, musical preaching voice earned him the nickname “the Million-Dollar Voice,” and his sermons attracted large audiences around the country. He also recorded sermons and spoke publicly on racial justice and labor rights.

Aretha grew up surrounded by gospel music and influential church figures, including Mahalia Jackson, Clara Ward, and James Cleveland. Her father encouraged her singing and helped provide the religious and musical environment that shaped her early style. Those names are common mix-ups in this question because Jackson and Cleveland were major gospel figures and family friends, but neither was Aretha’s father.

C. L. Franklin was shot during a suspected robbery in 1979 and remained in a coma for five years. He died in Detroit in 1984.