Aretha's proud to be a big woman

When she sang about Respect for the first time in 1967, Aretha Franklin was a svelte brunette. Forty years on, she is almost unrecognisable.

In a blonde wig, spilling out of a low-cut gown, a much larger Queen of Soul appeared at a gala dinner in Washington on Friday.

And Miss Franklin couldn't be happier. For the first time, she says, the real Aretha is on stage - a 'big woman' who loves her food.

The 63-year-old has revealed she spent decades starving herself to stay slim.

'For a long time I suffered so much trying to be what other people expected me to be and look like,' she told the Canyon News website.

'I definitely was never meant to be a model-type walking down a runway - I'm just Aretha singing what she feels in her heart and soul. So far, people seem to understand...'

The audience at the National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters gala dinner certainly seemed satisfied, giving the mother of four a standing ovation.