ARETHA FRANKLIN, THE UNDISPUTED QUEEN OF SOUL, IS CATHY HUGHES' SPECIAL GUEST ON AN ALL-NEW TV ONE ON ONE, PREMIERING SUNDAY, MARCH 2 AT 10 PM ET

-- The Soul, Pop, Gospel Icon Talks About Her Extraordinary Career, Plays Piano for Hughes and is Joined by Her Favorite Soap Opera Actor, Eric Braeden --

Aretha Franklin is host Cathy Hughes' special guest on TV One on One, March 2 at 10 PM ET.

The women are joined by Eric Braeden from The Young and the Restless, Ms. Franklin's favorite soap opera star.

Silver Spring, MD (BlackNews.com) - A true music legend for an astonishing half-century, singer Aretha Franklin has won just about every top music award there is, including 18 of the music industry's ultimate -- the Grammy -- as well as its Living Legend Grammy and Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Her powerful voice has swept across musical genres from pop, blues, gospel, jazz, rock and even opera and hearing her sing can't fail but bring audiences to tears or to their feet. And now Franklin has a new CD, Jewels in the Crown: All Star Duets With the Queen featuring some of the industry's top voices -- Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Franklin's own goddaughter, Whitney Houston, to name just a few.

But as the singer confides to Hughes on the new TV One on One, premiering Sunday, March 2 at 10 PM ET, there is one artist she has yet to record with -- Smokey Robinson. However, now that she is starting her own label, Aretha Records, all that could change. "We should have recorded. He really is [like a brother]. Smokey and I go back to, like, the sandbox, when we were little more than tots -- eight, nine years old. That's how long we've known each other. And now that the [record company] chairmen are not making the decisions -- we'll make the decision. I know Smokey would love to, and I would love to."

Next to entertaining, Franklin's other passion is the fight for social justice. Winner of this year's NAACP Vanguard Award presented at the recent NAACP Image Awards and MusicCares' Person of the Year, Franklin is the daughter of the influential and charismatic Rev. C.L. Franklin and grew up in a Detroit home that deeply embraced the civil rights movement. As Franklin tells Hughes, their home was a stopping place for many of the influential movement leaders of the time, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Congressman Adam Clayton Powell. "I kind of grew up in that atmosphere. My dad and Dr. King were very good friends, and on Sundays and -- and throughout the week -- politicians would come into town, and my dad would open his pulpit to those who were running locally, for city council and various positions in the city. So I guess I kind of come by that [my activism] naturally."

And she adds, "My father grew up in a family of Mississippi sharecroppers. Having come out of the oppression that he came out of and knowing the struggles of the people around him -- and, of course, they worked in the fields -- my grandmother and my dad -- pickin' cotton and so on, I'm very sure that that was the catalyst for politicians coming through our church and his advocacy in terms of getting the right people in office who would serve the community."

Service to causes and service to her craft is Franklin's signature, as is her heart-stopping, goose bump-raising voice that has forever defined such songs as "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," "Think" and "Respect," helping her become the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the youngest recipient of a Kennedy Center Honors Award and holder of the ninth ranking on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

The mother of four sons, two of whom are in the music business (son Teddy is the musical director and guitarist in her touring band), the twice-divorced Franklin is finding great joy in her life these days as the grandmother of four, (including two girls -- a new experience for her!), a universally respected singer and dedicated social activist. Still, there is one unfulfilled ambition: to learn classical piano. She is hoping to make that dream come true by taking courses at Juilliard some day.

And what advice would Franklin give to people trying to fulfill their own ambitions? "People shouldn't get bent out of shape if they get into a spot that's a little rough. Sometimes, that's a long-range blessing for you."

TV One viewers can also hear Franklin play Cathy Hughes' father's favorite song, "Canadian Sunset" on the piano and enjoy her special visit with her favorite soap actor, Eric Braeden, who plays "Victor Newman" on The Young and the Restless, during the hour. In addition, viewers can learn much more about Franklin's life, her love of music, her talent for cooking, and her take on this year's Presidential election, when she talks with Cathy Hughes on TV One on One, premiering Sunday, March 2 at 10 PM ET, repeating that night at 1 AM, and on Thursday, March 13 at 10 AM, Saturday, March 15 at noon and Saturday, March 22 at 6 AM.

Launched in January 2004, TV One (www.tvoneonline.com) serves nearly 43 million households (Nielsen Feb. 2008 estimate), offering a broad range of lifestyle and entertainment-oriented original programming, classic series, movies, fashion and music designed to entertain, inform and inspire a diverse audience of adult African American viewers. TV One's investors include Radio One [NASDAQ: ROIA and ROIAK; www.radio-one.com], the largest radio company that primarily targets African American and urban listeners; Comcast Corporation [NASDAQ: CMCSA and CMCSK; www.comcast.com], the leading cable television company in the country; The DirecTV Group; Constellation Ventures; Syndicated Communications; and Opportunity Capital Partners.