September 2018 Aretha Franklin FROM PAGE 1


Ree-Ree....You will reign as the Queen forever.” The nation and the world


of music continue to mourn the passing of the Queen of Soul, a legend whose career spanned six decades since her young teens in the 1950’s up until just last year. Aretha Louise Franklin died August 16th of advanced pancreatic cancer in her home in Detroit, Michigan. She was 76. Aretha Franklin's funeral services spanned four days, with two public viewings available to her fans and community. The first viewing took place at Detroit's Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History from Aug. 28-29. The second public viewing was at Franklin's lifelong church where her body lay in honor at New Bethel Baptist Church on Aug. 30. The New Bethel viewing was added to help members of the congregation who may face difficulty attending the bigger museum event. She was laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit. Hits like "Respect," "I Never


Loved a Man," "Chain of Fools," "Baby I Love You," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Think," "The House That Jack Built," earned and cemented the title of Queen of Soul in the 60’s. "American history wells up


when Aretha sings," President Obama explained in response to her performance of "A Natural Woman" at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors. "Nobody embodies more fully the connection between the African- American spiritual, the blues, R&B, rock and roll—the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope" Voice of a Movement Her music is often considered


the sound track of the civil rights movement. In her autobiography, Aretha From These Roots, she explained the power she felt her rendition of “Respect” gave to all: "It [reflected] the need of a nation, the need of the average man and woman in the street, the businessman, the mother, the fireman, the teacher— everyone wanted respect," she wrote. "It was also one of the battle cries of the civil rights movement. The song took on monumental significance." Born during Jim Crow, she sang


at the inauguration of the nation’s first African American President. Her father, the Reverend C.L. Franklin, was a strong proponent of social justice. Franklin’s home and church regularly hosted prominent activists, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Mahalia Jackson, and Harry Belafonte, in the midst of the nation’s political unrest due to the raging Vietnam War and escalating racial tensions, especially in Franklin’s hometown of Detroit. Rev. Franklin’s 1963 Detroit Walk to Freedom came two months before King’s March on Washington. King would often ask Aretha to sing his favorite songs, “Amazing Grace” or “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” When King was assassinated in 1968, Franklin sang “Precious Lord” at his funeral in Atlanta. But Aretha was not just the symbol and voice of civil rights, she was there when it counted. “Almost every time we needed


money, there were two people we could always count on: Aretha Franklin and Harry Belafonte,” Andrew Young former King associate, Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador said. “They would get together and have a concert, and that would put us back on our feet.” When Angela Davis was placed


on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, arrested and jailed, Franklin reportedly offered to pay the activist’s bail “whether it’s $100,000 or $250,000,” according to reports in a December 1970 issue of Jet magazine. “I’m going to stick to my beliefs,” Franklin told the magazine. “Angela Davis must go free. Black people must be free… Jail is hell to be in. I’m going to set her free if there is any justice in our courts, not because I believe in communism but because she’s a Black woman and she wants freedom for Black people. I have the money; I got it from Black people—they’ve made me financially able to have it—and I want to use it in ways that will help our people.” Long after the 60’s Franklin was committed to social justice often checking with associates on such matters as the emerging Black Lives Matter movement, asking about such cases as those of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner. “She used her platform to inform


others,” the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson said in an interview. “She did not put her career before principles.” Post 60’s Hits The 70’s brought us "Spanish


Harlem," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Day Dreaming," “Angel,” “Until You Come Back To Me” and the albums Live at the Filmore West and Amazing Grace. The latter, recorded with James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir, is one of the biggest gospel-pop crossover of all time. In the 80’s Ri-Ri teamed up with


one of the hottest singer/songwriter/ producers available, none other than Luther Van Dross. With the title track “Jump To It”, it was her 10th #1 R&B album and received the American Music Award’s Best Soul Album of 1983. Her vocal collaborations read like a veritable who’s who of the music world: George Michael, Elton John, Whitney Houston, James Brown, Ray Charles, Mary J. Blige, Bonnie Raitt, Dionne Warwick, Mariah Carey, and even the Blues Brothers. And who can forget Aretha and Annie Lennox belting out “Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves.” Her


last album, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics covering female artists from Etta James to Adele. It debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200 in the United States, selling 23,000 copies in its first week. One of the all-time greats,


Franklin racked up 17 Grammy awards over four decades from 1967 to 2007; four decades. Franklin received a star on the


Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979, had her voice declared a Michigan "natural resource" in 1985, and became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded her a Grammy Legend Award in 1991, then the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. Franklin was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1994, recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 1999, and was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. She was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005. Franklin became the second


woman inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. She was the 2008 MusiCares Person of the Year, performing at the Grammys days later. Following news of Franklin's surgery and recovery in February 2011, the Grammys ceremony paid tribute to the singer with a medley of her classics performed by Christina Aguilera, Florence Welch, Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, and Yolanda Adams. That same year she was ranked 19th among the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time top artists, and ranked first on the Rolling Stone list of Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2013, she was again ranked first in Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Singers" list. Inducted to the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012, Franklin was described as "the voice of the civil rights movement, the voice of black America" and a "symbol of black equality". And that heavenly voice even


has a heavenly body named after her. Asteroid 249516 Aretha was named in her honor in 2014.


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