She was a legend. And I am not exaggerating. Everyone seems to know the name.
I may not be of her generation, but her music still plays in my head from time to time, and on my MP3 player. (chain of fools , i can hear it now)
Hopefully some newer artists today do carry on the tradition of writing and singing their own songs. And maybe they even learn to sing in church or a group or something (not professional when starting out). And perhaps some of them do not use auto-tune and lip-syncing. But yeah, I hear you Cause, many people could probably think of a song that is 100% auto-tune, post processed, edited, dubbed, faked, etc. and its a bummer.
I can sing okay when no one is there to hear it, so it doesn't count. So I have a lot of respect for anyone who can just get in front of others and sing it out! And all anyone should need is a microphone. And they can look like death warmed over, so long as they can sing, and put themselves into it.
With that said, I am really into electronic music, and many people say it's not music at all, just noise. I'm not sure what Aretha Franklin would have to say about EDM.
P.S.
76 does not seem all that old.