Aretha Franklin's Canada Day show postponed until next year

Thousands of Toronto fans waiting to be serenaded by the Queen of Soul will have to wait.

Legendary songstress Aretha Franklin announced Monday that her Canada Day show at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts has been postponed until next year.

According to a press release, doctors have told Franklinthat she's currently unfit to travel to Toronto.

The 75-year-old has struggled through several bouts of illness in recent years, though she has provided few details on the nature of her medical issues.

• Aretha Franklin says she's 'retiring this year'

In April, Franklin sang at a tribute concert for the celebrated record label executive Clive Davis at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Before her performance, the renowned singer said that she'd been "fighting an upper respiratory viral infection."

"So you'll have to forgive me if I miss a few notes," she was quoted as saying by the New York Post.

Instead of performing to a Canada Day crowd in Toronto this year, Franklin will sing at the 2018 TD Toronto Jazz Festival on June 28.

The move comes as a surprise.

The singer told a Detroit TV station in February that this would be her last year of performing publicly before retiring from the stage to focus on her health. She still plans to continue recording in studio.

Organizers say that anyone who purchased tickets through Ticketmaster or the Sony Centre box office will have the option of holding on to them, which will get them into the jazz festival, orrequest a full refund.