Aretha Franklin Made a Heavy Mark on the Music World by Jennifer Bihm Friend Aretha Franklin,” Said Pastor Ron Taylor of the Arise Christian Center
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VOL. LXXXV, NO. 35 • $1.00 + Ca. Sales Tax “For Over Eighty Years The Voice of Our Community Speaking for Itself” THURSDAY, AUGUST. 23, 2018 Aretha Franklin Made a Heavy Mark on the Music World By Jennifer Bihm friend Aretha Franklin,” said Pastor Ron Taylor of the Arise Christian Center. s a memorial service was held in Detroit Sunday for “No we never met but she was so much a part of my life the Queen of Soul aka Aretha Franklin, messages of growing up and many of her songs are so deeply tied to spe- A love, respect, admiration and pride continued to spread cial memories that I will always cherish. Spending time with across various forms of media. She was remembered for more one of my favorite aunts who nearly wore the grooves out of than just her stunning vocals; family, friends and fans recalled the ‘Sparkle’ album, playing cards and sipping margaritas is her activism, her compassion, her easy going- down to earth na- just one of them. And who didn’t put on Aretha to clean house, ture. But perhaps, longtime friend and musical colleague Mavis all the while performing our own private concert. Aretha I just Staples said it best: “[Franklin] was just special”. want to thank you for all the fun, all the dancing, and all the It was how it is usually, when greatness leaves, many clam- memories…” oring to say that they’ve touched or have been touch by it in She was born Aretha Louise Franklin on March 25, 1942, some way. In this day and age, from radio to television to social Franklin in Memphis, Tennessee. Her father Clarence La- media, the outpouring had been quick and strong, a myriad of Vaughn “C. L.” Franklin had been a Baptist minister and cir- fellow celebrities waxing poetic about working with Franklin cuit preacher, her mother, a piano player and vocalist. Hers was or how her music influenced their own careers. But it was thea blended family, both parents coming together with previous fans, ones who had met her as well as the ones who did not, who children before she was born. seemed to have formed some of the deepest connections. When she was two, Franklin’s family moved to New York Even in this reporter’s own family. for a few years before heading to her “foundation years” home “[Hers] was one of the first albums I bought with my own in Detroit, Michigan before she was five. Her father took over money,” said Loresa Gaines (my mom), about her Franklin ex- the pastorship of New Bethel Baptist Church there but troubles perience in the 60s. found the singer early. In 1948 her mother headed back to New “That’s when you could still send money and order records York, separating from her father who was said to be a philan- through the mail… the album was ‘I Never Loved Another Man derer. the Way I Love You.” Franklin’s mother Barbara, died of a heart attack on March “I am deeply saddened by the passing of my sister and 7, 1952, before Aretha’s tenth birthday. Gospel artist Mahalia {See ARETHA FRANKLIN SP-2} SP-2 LOS ANGELES SENTINEL NEWS THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 2018 Jackson was one of the women don’t know why I let you do Waiting for Me”, her interna- tor and my friend,” tweeted who helped with the Franklin these things to me/ My friends tional number-one duet with Mariah Carey. children at home, while her keep telling me that you ain’t George Michael. Franklin also The tributes have been father was out preaching fieryno good/ But oh, they don’t became known for singing the countless. sermons that earned him the know that I’d leave you if I theme song to the popular Bill “The loss of @ArethaF- distinction of “the man with could/ I ain’t never loved a Cosby sit come “A Different ranklin is a blow for every- the million dollar voice”. Dur- man the way that I love you”. World”. body who loves real music: ing this time, Aretha learned Other 1967 notables in- Franklin began to deal Music from the heart, the soul how to play piano by ear. cluded “Natural Woman”, and with health issues in 2010, and the Church. Her voice was Her father’s celebrity gar- “Baby I Love You”. The next canceling concerts to have unique, her piano playing un- nered home visits by a wealth year brought more grooves surgery for undisclosed rea- derrated – she was one of my of influences (musical and from the top selling Lady Soul sons. Rumors of pancreatic favourite pianists,” wrote El- non) like gospel musicians and Aretha Now albums like cancer spread then, but Frank- ton John. Clara Ward, James Cleveland“Chain of Fools”, “Think” and lin denied them. Last year, “This morning my longest and early Caravans members “I Say a Little Prayer”. Her Franklin asked fans to keep friend in this world went home Albertina Walker and Inez commercial success allowed her in their prayers. She was to be with our Father. I will Andrews as well as Martin her a platform for her cause reported gravely ill on August miss her so much but I know Luther King Jr., Jackie Wilsonagainst injustice, those suf- 13, and died at age 76 of com- she’s at peace. #QueenOf- and Sam Cooke. Her own mu- fered by blacks and women. plications from pancreatic Soul,” wrote Smokey Robin- sical beginnings were at New She left a heavy mark on the cancer. son. Bethel where she began sing- civil rights movement. The tributes came im- Franklin enjoyed many ing gospel solos, her first: “Je- “She used her platform to mediately, other legends like honors including a star on sus Be a Fence Around Me”. inform others,” the Rev. Jesse Diana Ross and Pattie Labelle the Hollywood Walk of Fame By age 12, she was traveling L. Jackson said during the tweeting their condolences. in 1979, having her voice de- with her father (who also be- Detroit memorial. “She did “I am deeply saddened clared a Michigan “natural came her manager) on his gos- not put her career before prin- about the passing of the resource” in 1985 and becom- pel caravan tours across the ciples.” Queen of Soul and my sister ing the first woman inducted country. Franklin put on fund-rais- in song, Aretha Franklin,” La- into the Rock and Roll Hall She spent some sum- ers, went on tour, gave free Belle wrote. of Fame in 1987. The National mers with the Staples family, shows and gave money to bail Academy of Recording Arts she and Mavis both rising as out activist Angela Davis. and Sciences awarded her a young gospel singers during Her most famous song Grammy Legend Award that time. to date, “Respect” be- in 1991, then the In a recent interview with came an anthem for Grammy Lifetime Los Angeles Times, Staples both feminism and Achievement Award recalled Franklin’s exception- for the movement. in 1994. Franklin al gift. Her success at At- was a Kennedy Cen- “She was really a young lantic became stagnant ter Honoree in 1994, girl,” Staples said. by the 1970s, though she did recipient of the National “I didn’t think it was that turn out some hits like “Some- Medal of Arts in 1999, and amazing that she was singing thing He can Feel” and “Until “Today the world has was bestowed the Presidential as a young girl — we both You Come Back to Me”. She experienced a tremendous Medal of Freedom in 2005. were young and we sang and married actor Glynn Turman loss. Aretha was a rare trea- “American history wells I just thought that’s what you in 1978. sure whose unmatched mu- up when Aretha sings,” said did. It was the fact that she Her comeback was strong sical genius helped craft the former President Barack was so young, and she could in the 1980s. She left Atlantic soundtrack to the lives of so Obama during a 2016 inter- deliver a song with so much for Arista, and one of her most many. My sympathy, love and view. feeling and so directly…” notable moments in that era prayers go out to her family, “Nobody embodies more By age 18, Franklin want- was probably her guest role as loved ones and fans around fully the connection between ed to venture out into the mu- a sassy waitress in the popu- the globe…” the African-American spiri- sical landscape, beyond gospel lar “Blues Brothers” film. By “Aretha Franklin. The tual, the blues, R&B, rock and and into popular music and the mid-80s, a new genera- Queen of Soul. The Icon. The roll—the way that hardship told her father/ manager as tion began to love her music, ultimate singers’ singer. The and sorrow were transformed much. She moved back to New her album “Who’s Zoomin’ greatest singer and musician into something full of beauty York and by 1961 had her first Who” becoming wildly popu- of my lifetime. The power of and vitality and hope”. secular hit “Won’t Be Long” lar in 1985. That album sold your voice in music and in A private funeral has been on the Columbia label. From over a million copies with hits civil rights blew open the door arranged for August 31 fol- there, it seemed Franklin was like “Freeway of Love”, the for me and so many others. lowing a two day public view- churning out hit after hit and title track (“Who’s Zoomin’ You were my inspiration, my ing of Franklin’s casket at the by 1966 left Columbia for At- Who”), and “Another Night”.