She
was a trailblazing singer and artist who crossed over into every genre of
music. She filled stadiums, arenas, and music halls wherever she performed and
left an everlasting impression on everyone that watched her perform from fans
to world leaders. She was someone whose songs about woman hood, “Respect,”
strength were transcending. One week ago, the world lost that great voice that
never let anything get her down, not even how she grew up in the Midwest and was
at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement.
Last
Thursday, Aug. 23 Aretha Franklin, the 18-time Grammy Award winner, whose
entertainment career spanned more than five decades passed away from pancreatic
cancer at her home in Detroit, MI. She was 76 years old. She is survived by her
four sons Clarence, Edward, Kecalf Cunningham and Ted White, Jr., several
grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
Her
memorial service was held on Sunday at the church she first began her musical
journey at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, MI.
There
will be a private funeral on Aug. 31, following a two-day public viewing of Ms.
Franklin’s casket at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
in the “Motor City.”
Ms.
Franklin had been battling health issues in recent years before her passing
last week and one year ago this month had announced her retirement from the
craft that made her a once in a generation powerhouse performer citing doctor’s
orders.
It
was later revealed by her publicist that she had been battling pancreatic
cancer and according to news reports was transferred to hospice care in her
last days of life.
During
hospice, Ms. Franklin was surrounded by family and friends, which included
visits from Stevie Wonder, Rev. Jesse Jackson and her ex-husband, actor Glynn
Turman, who she was married to from 1978-84.
In
a statement the Franklin family called her passing, “One of the darkest moments
of their lives.”
They
also said they lost the, “matriarch and the rock of their family.”
Fans
throughout that Thursday paid tribute to the “Queen of Soul” by creating a
shrine of floral arrangements and photographs of the music legend at her star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, CA to her name being on the famed
marquee of the famed Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NY, which read, “Honoring Apollo
Legend Aretha Franklin 1942-2018. Rest in Peace Aretha Franklin Queen of Soul.”
To
put her remarkable career into context, Ms. Franklin had 20 No. 1 hits on the
Rhythm and Blues (R&B) charts. Her music also spanned to soul, gospel,
where she started her career, pop and even opera.
She
was also someone who can say that she performed at the inauguration of three
presidents. She performed at the 1993 inaugural for Mr. Bill Clinton, the
nation’s 42nd President and at the swearing in of our first African
American President Mr. Barack Obama back in 2009, where she was the only solo
singer to perform that day.
With
the news of her passing, her 30 Greatest Hits album, which featured songs like
“Respect (No. 1, 1967),” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (No. 8,
1968),” “Think (No. 7, 1968),” and “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)
(No. 9, 1967)” soared to the top of the iTunes charts last week.
The
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honored their first female inductee back in 1987 by
saying Ms. Franklin, “Defined Soul Music.”
Some
of today’s heavyweights and legends in the music industry echoed similar
sentiments like Diana Ross, who spoke of her “Golden Spirit.”
Sir
Paul McCartney called Ms. Franklin the, “Queen of our souls, who inspired us
all.”
Hit
maker Carol King, who wrote “Natural Woman” nearly 50 years ago exclaimed,
“What a life. What a legacy.”
As
mentioned in total she won 18 Grammys, was honored at the Kennedy Center, and
received the highest honor for a civilian of the United States, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Ms.
Franklin’s rise to being one of the greatest performers on Earth and her
success seems hard to fathom until you heard her sing. Her voice was not only
powerful and expressive, but it was wide ranging and it kept you wanting more.
Born
on Mar. 25, 1942 in Memphis, TN to Rev. C.L. Franklin and gospel singer Barbara
Siggers Franklin, who moved away when her daughter was just six years old and
passed way from a heart attack when she was 10, music has always been a part of
Ms. Franklin’s life.
She
learned how to play piano by ear. Grew up singing gospel at her father’s
church, the New Bethel Baptist Church, where many gathered to show there
respects as well.
In
an interview many years ago for CBS News’ “60 Minutes” with the late Ed
Bradley, Ms. Franklin said of that experience at the age of nine, “Whenever we
were having service if I was going to sing they would have me stand on a chair
and sing.”
Five
years after that moment, a 14-year-old Franklin released her first album, “The
Gospel of Aretha Franklin,” which occurred shortly after giving birth to her
first son Clarence. Two years later, a 16-year-old Franklin gave birth to her
second son Edward.
It
was also during this time that Ms. Franklin began touring with her father on a
regular basis.
When
she was 18, Ms. Franklin was signed to Columbia Records, who saw her as a pop
star even though her start with them was pretty rocky.
In
1961, she made the transition from gospel to pop and with the release of her
first circular album it was the beginning of stardom that would never die off.
Even
with that success early on in her career, things were never easy for Ms.
Franklin and they got even harder in the early parts of her adulthood.
In
her biography “RESEPCT: The Life of Aretha Franklin,” Franklin says that she
struggled with depression, alcoholism and had problems with her weight.”
She
had worries that if she were to have passed on earlier in her life from any of
these problems that the public who grew to love her would forget about her.
Her
fans remained loyal and true to her to the end and she continued to perform for
the likes of The Pope when he visited the U.S.
On
Dec. 6, 2015 she brought of all people President Obama to tears during her
performance at the Kennedy Center Honors.
In
a statement last week, Mr. Obama and his wife Michelle remember the “Queen of
Soul” saying, “America has no royalty, but Franklin helped define the American
experience.”
“In
her voice, we could feel our history, all of it and in every shade-our power
and our pain, our darkness and our light, our quest for redemption and our
hard-won respect. May the ‘Queen of Soul’ rest in eternal peace.”
Sam
Moore, the original ‘Soul Man,’ who was friends with Ms. Franklin for more than
six decades and who played piano for his album “Pretty Good Loving,” said in an
interview with “CBS Evening News” anchor Jeff Glor about what made her so
great, “The struggles. The hurt. The lies. Everything that happened to her in
the past it’s what made singers like Aretha the greatest of the great and she
was and still is to me the greatest that ever, ever stood before a microphone.”
Ms.
Franklin took all that pain and hurt in 1966 when she signed with Atlantic
Records and she and producer Jerry Wexler and created her first single “I Never
Loved a Man (The Way That I Love You).”
She
followed that up with Otis Redding’s “Respect” and Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is
Gonna Come,” and co-wrote two memorable songs “Dr. Feelgood (Love Is a Serious
Business),” “Baby, Baby, Baby” and then introduced the planet to “Do Right
Woman, Do Right Man.”
“Do
Right Woman, Do Right Man” album marked Ms. Franklin’s arrival as a major voice
of the Civil Rights movements in the 1960s, even though she said that she has
been a part of it since first seeing Dr. Martin Luther King, a friend of her
father on television.
“I
was a very young girl-in my teens-but I understood what he was trying to do and
I believed in that,” she said to New York’s Newsday
11 years ago. “For myself, it was a way of making a very small contribution to
a very big, big happening.”
One
of Ms. Franklin’s most popular songs of her legendary career was “Respect,”
which she spelled out and did it at a time that it was needed and remains timeless.
Ms.
Franklin once said, “Everybody wanted respect. Who doesn’t want respect? You
know, children, adults alike everybody wanted respect.”
That
song, which was first written and recorded first by Mr. Redding that would be
the anthem of the Civil Rights movement on Valentine’s Day in 1967 and would go
on what “Rolling Stone” called one of the Top 5 greatest songs of
all-time.
“I
heard Otis Redding sing it and I rehearsed it, and my sister came by Carolyn,
and she helped me put the background to it and we came up with the cliché,
‘Sock it to me,’ which became famous,” Franklin said to “60 Minutes” back in
1990.
Mr.
Redding did not hide his bitterness when he performed his version at the
Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 when he said, “This is a song, a song a girl took
away from me, but I’m going to sing it anyway.”
Franklin
turned Redding’s version of “Respect” the woman was sitting at home waiting for
her man on its head declaring respect in her version was a declaration of
independence. A mantra for what she said in an interview for CBS’s “Sunday
Morning” for not just the Civil Rights movement, but for people everywhere.
Respect
is also something that Franklin showed and gave to everyone as she would
address anyone who attended her no air-conditioned shows as “Mister” for the
men and “Miss” for the women.
It
is that kind of respect that earned her honorary degrees from Harvard,
Princeton, Yale Universities and Berklee College of Music.
It
is also that kind of self-worth for oneself and for others that led to more
success over the years not just individually, but by collaborating with some of
the stars of today.
After
singles like “Chain of Fools,” “Think” and “Spanish Harlem” brought her to a
commercial peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she made her mark in the
1980s with hits “Who’s Zoomin Who?” album, which also included “Freeway of
Love” and “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves” and her duet with George
Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me).”
In
the 1990s, she worked with the likes of Lauryn Hill for “A Rose Is Still a
Rose,” and with Mary J. Blige in 2003 on the song “So Damn Happy.”
She
really showed her ability to perform in 1998 where she shocked the world by
filling in for a sick Luciano Pavarotti at the Grammys by singing in tribute to
him “Nessun Dorma.” She performed that challenging number with 20 minutes
notice.
While
Detroit was Ms. Franklin’s origin, her second home was New York, NY and one
place specifically she made her musical presence felt was at The Apollo Theater
in Harlem, NY.
When
she passed last Thursday crowds of people came, creating a makeshift memorial
at the place where Ms. Franklin performed over 100 times and left lasting,
unforgettable, and divine memories for baby boomers to millennials.
“Every
time I think of Aretha I just think that she represented all the ladies because
we women came through a lot and she paved the way. She was a trailblazer.”
Claudette Williams said to CBS 2 New York’s Dick Brennan.
“She
gets me so hyped. She makes me feel like being a black woman is something to
respect and something to cherish,” an 18-year-old Gabby Coffy said to Brennan.
“I
was born in 1968 and there’s not a moment in my babyhood, childhood, and
teenagerhood and adulthood that hasn’t been enhanced and made more beautiful by
her music” Janna Brady said to Brennan about the impact Ms. Franklin had on
her.
New
York recording artist Vince B. who did a musical tribute to Ms. Franklin said
of the “Queen of Soul,” “She’s paved the way for so many soul singers. So many
artists. So many musicians and you will forever be missed and your music will
forever live on.”
One
week ago, the United States of America and the world lost a treasure. Aretha
Louise Franklin was not just a Grammy Award-Winning singer and entertainer, but
she was in her own way a teacher, leader, activist, healer, and inspiration.
Someone who turned tragedy and heartache into a rallying cry. Someone who took
her gift and inspired generations of people, women especially that they are
worth everything. Someone who through her music made people feel empowered,
confident, and determined to be great in all parts of their life. Above all,
she made it very clear that we all not matter our religion, race, or creed that
we all deserve to be treated with respect.
Information
and quotations are courtesy of 8/16/18 5 p.m. edition of CBS 2 News New York at
5 p.m. with Maurice DuBois, Kristine Johnson, and Lonnie Quinn, with reports
from Dana Tyler and Dick Brennan; 8/16/18 6:30 p.m. edition of “CBS Evening
News” with Jeff Glor, with reports from Vladimire Duthiers and Lee Cowan;
8/17/18 https://metro.co.uk article, “Who Are
Aretha Franklin’s Four Children-Clarence, Edward, Ted and Kecalf;” 8/17/18 Newsday
articles “1942-2018 Respect For the Queen of Soul,” by Glenn Gamboa and “Recalling
Aretha’s NYC Legacy,” by Meghan Giannotta; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aretha_Franklin.
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