Franklin (Then and Now)

I promise, we really are better than this, fam. I got a habit of looking confused…tends to make the patients nervous. Just 3 days to go!!! This is the face you pull when you see some gross stuff on set that looks all too real!! Laughing makes everything better, even if you end up looking goofy!

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Comments that contain profane or derogatory language, video links or exceed words will require approval by a moderator before appearing in the comment section. Franklin's infidelities, and they separated in Aretha's father's emotionally driven sermons resulted in his being known as the man with the "million-dollar voice".

He earned thousands of dollars for sermons in various churches across the country. Martin Luther King Jr. Recording equipment was installed inside New Bethel Baptist Church and nine tracks were recorded. Franklin was featured on vocals and piano. These four tracks, with the addition of "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood", were released on side one of the album, Spirituals.

This was reissued by Battle Records in under the same title. During this time, Franklin would occasionally travel with The Soul Stirrers. Martin Luther King, Jr. As a young gospel singer, Franklin spent summers on the gospel circuit in Chicago and stayed with Mavis Staples ' family. Franklin agreed to the move and helped to produce a two-song demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records , who agreed to sign her in Franklin was signed as a "five-percent artist".

Before signing with Columbia, Sam Cooke tried to persuade Franklin's father to sign her with his label, RCA , but his request was denied.

Record label owner Berry Gordy was also looking to sign Franklin and her elder sister Erma to his Tamla label. Franklin felt the label was not yet established enough, and he turned Gordy down. In January , Columbia issued Franklin's first secular album, Aretha: With The Ray Bryant Combo. By the end of , Franklin was named as a "new-star female vocalist" in DownBeat magazine. However, she struggled with commercial success while at Columbia.

Label executive John H. Hammond later said he felt Columbia did not understand Franklin's early gospel background and failed to bring that aspect out further during her period there. In November , Franklin's Columbia recording contract expired and she chose to move to Atlantic Records. Franklin only spent one day recording at FAME, as an altercation broke out between her manager and husband Ted White, studio owner Rick Hall , and a horn player, and sessions were abandoned. Her rapport with producer Jerry Wexler helped in the creation of the majority of Franklin's peak recordings with Atlantic.

Some of these releases were from the acclaimed albums Spirit in the Dark and Young, Gifted and Black. She returned to Gospel music in a two-night, live-church recording, with the album, Amazing Grace , in which she reinterpreted standards such as Mahalia Jackson's How I Got Over. Despite the success of the single " Angel ", the album bombed [ citation needed ] upon its release in Records in , Franklin worked on the soundtrack to the film Sparkle with Curtis Mayfield.

Franklin's follow-up albums for Atlantic, including Sweet Passion , Almighty Fire and La Diva , bombed on the charts, [ citation needed ] and in Franklin left the company. Franklin also had an acclaimed guest role as a soul food restaurant proprietor and wife of Matt "Guitar" Murphy in the comedy musical The Blues Brothers. Franklin achieved a gold record—for the first time in seven years—with the album Jump to It. The album's title track was her first top single on the pop charts in six years. The album sold well over a million copies thanks to the hits " Freeway of Love ", the title track, and "Another Night".

She returned to the charts in with the dance song "A Deeper Love" and returned to the top 40 with the song " Willing to Forgive " in The album of the same name was released after the single. It sold in excess of , copies; earning a gold album. That same year, Franklin received global praise after her Grammy Awards performance.

She had initially been asked to come and perform in honor of the The Blues Brothers film in which she appeared with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. That evening after the show had already begun, Luciano Pavarotti himself contacted show producers and said he was too ill to perform the opera aria " Nessun dorma " as planned.

The show's producers were desperate to fill the time slot, and approached Franklin with their dilemma. She was a friend of Pavarotti, and had sung the selection two nights prior at the annual MusiCares event. She asked to hear Pavarotti's rehearsal recording, and after listening, agreed that she could sing it in the tenor range that the orchestra was prepared to play in. Over one billion people worldwide saw the performance, and she received an immediate standing ovation.

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She would go on to record the selection, and perform it live several more times in the years to come; the last time being in Philadelphia for Pope Francis at the World Meeting of Families in September A small boy was so touched by her performance that he came onto the stage and embraced her while Franklin was still singing.

In , Franklin announced that she was leaving Arista after more than 20 years with the label. All-Star Duets with the Queen in On January 20, Franklin made international headlines for performing " My Country, 'Tis of Thee " at President Barack Obama 's inaugural ceremony with her church hat becoming a popular topic online. In , Franklin accepted an honorary degree from Yale University.

A Woman Falling Out of Love. An album was planned with producers Babyface and Danger Mouse. Seated behind the piano, wearing a black fur coat and Lions stocking cap, Franklin gave a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that lasted more than four minutes and featured a host of improvizations. While Franklin canceled some concerts in due to health reasons, and during an outdoor Detroit show, she asked the audience to "keep me in your prayers", she was still garnering highly favorable reviews for her skill and showmanship.

According to Richie Unterberger , Franklin was "one of the giants of soul music, and indeed of American pop as a whole. More than any other performer, she epitomized soul at its most gospel-charged. She was praised for her arrangements and interpretations of other artists' hit songs. From her time growing up in the home of a prominent African-American preacher to the end of her life, Franklin was immersed and involved in the struggle for civil rights and women's rights. She provided money for civil rights groups, at times covering payroll, and performed at benefits and protests.

Black people will be free. I've been locked up for disturbing the peace in Detroit and I know you got to disturb the peace when you can't get no peace. Jail is hell to be in. I'm going to see 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. Franklin was also a strong supporter for Native American rights.

After being raised in Detroit, Franklin relocated in the s to New York City , where she lived until moving to Los Angeles in the mids. She eventually settled in Encino, Los Angeles , where she lived until She then returned to the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan to be close to her ailing father and siblings. Franklin maintained a residence there until her death. Following an incident in , she cited a fear of flying that prevented her from traveling overseas; she performed only in North America afterwards. Franklin was the mother of four sons.

She first became pregnant at the age of 12 and gave birth to her first child, named Clarence after her father, [] on January 28, According to the news site Inquisitr , "The father of the child was Donald Burk, a boy she knew from school". While Franklin was pursuing her career and "hanging out with [friends]", Franklin's grandmother Rachel and sister Erma took turns raising the children.

He provided guitar backing for his mother's band during live concerts. Franklin was married twice. Her first husband was Theodore "Ted" White, whom she married in at age By marrying Turman, Franklin became stepmother of Turman's three children from a previous marriage. Franklin and Turman separated in after Franklin returned to Michigan from California, and they divorced in At one point, Franklin had plans to marry her longtime companion Willie Wilkerson. Franklin eventually called off the engagement.

Franklin's sisters, Erma and Carolyn , were professional musicians as well and spent years performing background vocals on Franklin's recordings. Following Franklin's divorce from Ted White, her brother Cecil became her manager, and maintained that position until his death from lung cancer on December 26, Sister Carolyn died the previous year in April from breast cancer, while eldest sister Erma died from throat cancer in September Franklin's half-brother Vaughn died two months after Erma in late Aretha moved back to Detroit in late to assist with the care of her father, who died at Detroit's New Light Nursing Home on July 27, Cissy sang background on Franklin's hit "Ain't No Way".

She was made Whitney's honorary aunt, not a godmother as has been occasionally misreported, and Whitney often referred to her as "Auntie Ree". Franklin was a Christian , [] [] and was a registered Democrat. Franklin dealt with weight issues for years. In , Franklin canceled a number of concerts, after she decided to have surgery for an undisclosed tumor. She denied that the ailment had anything to do with pancreatic cancer , as had been reported. On August 13, , Franklin was reported to be gravely ill at her home in Riverfront Towers , Detroit.

Wright Museum of African American History. Franklin's nephew Vaughan complained of Williams: Franklin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in , had her voice declared a Michigan "natural resource" in , [] and became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in When Rolling Stone listed the "Women in Rock: Franklin received honorary degrees from Harvard University and New York University in , [] as well as honorary doctorates in music from Princeton University , ; [] Yale University , ; [] Brown University , ; [] University of Pennsylvania , ; [] Berklee College of Music , ; [] New England Conservatory of Music , ; [] and University of Michigan , Both stations were originally named after other people.

Although the fan tributes were later taken down, the subway system's operator, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , erected temporary black-and-white stickers with the word "Respect" next to the "Franklin" name signs in each station. The "all-star" group performed gospel songs, including renditions from Franklin's album, Amazing Grace.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This is the latest accepted revision , reviewed on 17 December For other uses, see Aretha disambiguation. For other uses, see Queen of Soul disambiguation. Memphis , Tennessee, U. Detroit , Michigan, U. Retrieved September 23, The New York Times. Retrieved August 21, Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group. Retrieved August 17, Aretha Franklin to you". Archived from the original on May 21, Retrieved August 15, Retrieved December 2, Retrieved November 6, A towering gospel artist".

Retrieved March 20, Lifelong commitment to Detroit". Archived from the original on June 22, Retrieved April 18, Retrieved August 22, The Life and Times of Aretha Franklin. Retrieved August 19, Retrieved August 16, At 16, she went on tour with Dr. Phase three, soul music at the summit.