Music · 1942–2018
Aretha Franklinsinger, songwriter, pianistThe “Queen of Soul” grew up singing gospel in her father's Detroit church, spent most of her life in and around the city and is entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,949 famous people
- 516 Detroit places
- 18 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Origin and citizenship
Field
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28 people
Clear filtersMusic · 1942–2018Aretha Franklinsinger, songwriter, pianistThe “Queen of Soul” grew up singing gospel in her father's Detroit church, spent most of her life in and around the city and is entombed at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Music · 1948–2016Glenn Freysinger, songwriter, guitaristThe Eagles co-founder was born in Detroit, grew up in Royal Oak and cut his teeth in the mid-1960s Detroit rock scene before heading to Los Angeles.
Music · 1930–2001Tommy Flanaganjazz pianist, composerConant Gardens-born pianist who learned bebop in Detroit's clubs, played on Saxophone Colossus and Giant Steps, and spent years as Ella Fitzgerald's accompanist.
Music · born 1937Eddie Floydsinger, songwriterSoul singer of "Knock on Wood" who came of age in Detroit, where he co-founded the Falcons in his uncle's music circle.
Music · 1932–2021Curtis Fullerjazz trombonist, composerDetroit-born hard-bop trombonist who played on John Coltrane's Blue Train and in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and who died in his hometown in 2021.Adrienne Frantzactress, singer-songwriterActress and singer-songwriter born in Mount Clemens, north-east of Detroit, best known as Amber Moore on The Bold and the Beautiful and The Young and the Restless.Erma FranklinsingerAretha Franklin's elder sister, raised at New Bethel Baptist Church, who recorded the original "Piece of My Heart" (1967).
Music · 1942–1995Melvin Franklinbass singerThe deep bass voice of the Temptations, a founding member who grew up in Detroit and sang with the group from 1961 until 1994.Harvey Fuquasinger, songwriter, producer, record executiveMoonglows founder who moved to Detroit, ran Anna, Tri-Phi and Harvey Records, then led Motown's artist development and produced the Gaye–Terrell duets.
Music · 1952–2010Doug Fiegersinger, guitarist, songwriterDetroit-born, Oak Park-raised frontman of the Knack, who co-wrote and sang “My Sharona,” the biggest U.S. hit of 1979.
Music · born 1970Dean Fertitamulti-instrumentalist, singer, songwriterRoyal Oak–born guitarist and keyboardist who led Detroit's Waxwings, then joined Queens of the Stone Age and Jack White's the Dead Weather.
Music · 1935–2024Abdul "Duke" FakirsingerDetroit-born co-founder and last original member of the Four Tops, who sang with the group from 1953 until weeks before his death in 2024.Carolyn Franklinsinger, songwriterYoungest Franklin sister, raised at New Bethel Baptist Church, who wrote Aretha's "Ain't No Way" and "Angel".
Music · 1917–2000Pat Flowersjazz pianist, singerDetroit stride pianist groomed as Fats Waller's successor, who held the bench at Baker's Keyboard Lounge on and off from 1940 into the mid-1950s.C. L. FranklinBaptist minister, recorded preacher, civil rights leaderPastor of New Bethel Baptist Church from 1946 to 1979, famed for his recorded sermons, a leader of Detroit's 1963 Walk to Freedom and father of Aretha Franklin.Steve Farmerguitarist, songwriter, lyricistDetroit-born guitarist of the Amboy Dukes who wrote the lyrics of the 1968 psychedelic hit “Journey to the Center of the Mind” with Ted Nugent.
Music · born 1982Sean Forbeship-hop artist, accessibility advocateDeaf Detroit rapper who co-founded D-PAN to make music accessible in American Sign Language and signed with Eminem's first label, Web Entertainment.Eddie FowlkesDJ, record producer, label ownerDetroit-born DJ often called the “fourth” founder of techno, who coined the term “techno soul” and runs City Boy Records.Frederick A. Foxcomposer, music educatorDetroit-born composer and former jazz saxophonist, a Wayne State graduate who founded the Indiana University New Music Ensemble.
Music · 1958–2023Amp Fiddlerkeyboardist, singer, songwriter, producerDetroit keyboardist of Parliament-Funkadelic and mentor of J Dilla, who lent the young producer his MPC and introduced him to Q-Tip.Paul FreemanconductorAfrican American conductor who was associate conductor of the Detroit Symphony from 1970 to 1979 and first led its new youth orchestra before founding the Chicago Sinfonietta.Gwen Gordy Fuquasongwriter, record executiveDetroit-born Gordy sister who co-wrote Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops", co-founded Anna Records and later ran artist development and management at Motown.
Music · 1938–2024Henry FambroughsingerFounding baritone of the Spinners, who sang with the group for 69 years, from its 1954 start in Ferndale until 2023.Jorja Fleezanisviolinist, concertmaster, teacherCass Tech-trained violinist from a Greek immigrant family in Detroit who was concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra for twenty years and premiered John Adams's Violin Concerto.T. J. Fowlerpianist, organist, bandleaderDetroit-raised pianist whose jump-blues band recorded for Sensation, Savoy and States in the 1940s and 1950s, and who advised Berry Gordy's young Motown in 1959.Calvin Frazierblues guitarist, singer, songwriterArkansas-born guitarist, a companion of Robert Johnson and Johnny Shines, whose 1938 Library of Congress recordings are early documents of Detroit blues.James Frazierconductor, composerDetroit-born conductor, the son of a city sanitation worker, who won Italy's Cantelli Award in 1969 and composed a King Requiem premiered in Detroit.George Fraynepianist, singer, bandleader, painterAs Commander Cody, the University of Michigan art student founded the Lost Planet Airmen in Ann Arbor in 1967, pioneering boogie-woogie country rock and the hit “Hot Rod Lincoln.”The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗
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