The late Queen of Soul played the Hudson Valley several times and had ties to a songwriter in Tarrytown.

Aretha Franklin died Thursday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76 in her hometown of Detroit.

It was only five years ago that Franklin was in the Hudson Valley. She last graced the stage in Westchester in 2013 at the County Center.

She also had a connection to a musician from Tarrytown named Bobby Lance.

At 14 years old, Lance was signed to Atlantic Records as a writer, and he pitched a few of his songs.

"And he said 'play that first one again, play that first one again, so I played that song again, this is 'The House That Jack Built ya'll. You know what. This is great for Aretha'," says Lance.

After Franklin recorded Lance's song, it went gold. By today's standard, the record would be platinum.

"Her prowess as a musician and an artist taught me so much," says Lance.

Lance has carried what he learned from Franklin into the rest of his career and now he's teaching the next generation of musicians at Richard Bailey Middle School in Greenburgh.