Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, died Thursday morning at her home in Detroit after a long battle with cancer, her family said in a statement. She was 76 years old.
The family said Franklin died from advanced pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type. The cause of death was confirmed by Franklin's oncologist, according to the statement.
“In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart,” the family said. “We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds.”