Aretha Franklin, The "Queen Of Soul" Left Behind Her a Tremendous Legacy.
The legendary singer, known as "the queen of soul," died Thursday at home in Detroit, surrounded by family and loved ones. Franklin suffered from advanced pancreatic cancer.
“In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart. We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family. The love she had for her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins knew no bounds,”-- said Singer Gwendolyn Quinn's press secretary in a press release to E! News. "While we are in mourning, we ask you to respect our privacy during this difficult time."
Franklin had been in ill health since 2010, when she was diagnosed with a tumour but returned to live performance after undergoing surgery. She died of advanced pancreatic cancer. Despite having announced her retirement from performing in 2017, she was due to headline two shows at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest this April but cancelled on doctor’s orders. Her last performance was at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City during Elton John’s 25th anniversary gala for the Elton John Aids Foundation on 7 November 2017.
“American history wells up when Aretha sings,” former US president Barack Obama said of her performance of (You Make Me Feel Like) 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’n’roll – the way that hardship and sorrow were transformed into something full of beauty and vitality and hope.”
After her passing, some of America’s most prominent figures have paid their respects. Barack and Michelle Obama made a joint statement, reading, in part:
"Every time she sang, we were all graced with a glimpse of the divine. Through her compositions and unmatched musicianship, Aretha 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. She helped us feel more connected to each other, more hopeful, more human. And sometimes she helped us just forget about everything else and dance."
As fans mourn the death of Franklin, her cult song - "Respect" of 1967 - is already back on the charts. Franklin's version, first recorded by Otis Redding in 1965, was produced by Arif Mardin and Jerry Wexler. As she explained in 1999 in an interview for Fresh Air with Terry Gross of NPR, she "loved" the original. "I decided to save it, my sister, Carolyn, and I ended up living in a small apartment west of Detroit, the piano near the window, watching the cars pass by and the famous phrase "Sock it to me" (which can be translated as "show me what you are capable of") was a very popular expression at the time. Nothing invented, it was really cliché, girls said that to boys, not in a sexual sense, it's not sexual," she explained. "It was not sexual, it was a cliché."
Aretha Franklin With John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in The Blues Brothers, 1980. Photograph: Pictures/REX/Shutterstock
Indeed, Aretha Franklin's final live performance was at a gala event for Elton John’s Aids foundation, in November 2017. John posted a tribute on Instagram, saying: “The loss of Aretha Franklin is a blow for everybody who loves real music: Music from the heart, the soul and the Church. Her voice was unique, her piano playing underrated – she was one of my favourite pianists.”
Carole King, who co-wrote Franklin’s classic song (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, said on Twitter: “What a life. What a legacy! So much love, respect and gratitude.” Paul McCartney called her “the Queen of our souls, who inspired us all for many many years”.
Here is a Spotify Playlist to Browse Aretha's Legacy.
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