Villager Toni Booker will never forget The Queen of Soul. Aretha Franklin not only touched Booker’s life, but also her music.
“I grew up with Aretha and I always have been singing her songs,” said Booker, lead singer of the Dorels. “She makes you feel her music and she makes you move.”
Franklin, 76, has been a dominant force in American music for more than a half-century but is reportedly ”gravely ill” and at home, surrounded by friends and family in Detroit. Roger Friedman, of Showbiz411, reported her family is asking for “prayers and privacy.” CNN reported she is in hospice care.
“I lived in Detroit and I know what Aretha means to the people of that city and all over America,” Booker said. “She really is the Queen of Soul because she’s in a class by herself.”
Franklin grew up singing gospel music in church. Her father, C.L. Franklin, was a pastor who taught her to sing. She spent part of her childhood in Buffalo but first gained recognition singing in her father’s Detroit church.
Aretha exploded onto the music scene in the mid-1960s, not with Motown but with Atlantic Records. She combined gospel, rhythm and blues, and rock in a way no other artist had done. Songs like “Respect,” “A Natural Woman,” “Chain of Fools,” “Spanish Harlem” and “Think” redefined the musical landscape around the world.
In 1968, Franklin sang “Precious Lord Take My Hand” at the funeral service for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Aretha was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She received a Kennedy Center Honor and President George W. Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Franklin’s greatest accomplishment was touching generations of fans with her vocal majesty. She earned 20 Grammy Awards and sold more than 75 million records.
“There’s no one else like Aretha,” said Villager Tres Tresvant, of the Dorels. “She sang with such passion and she made you feel that passion. Aretha had real power with her music and I think that came out of her gospel training.”
I covered Aretha Franklin in concerts and was moved by the spiritual essence of her voice and performance. Listening to her sing live was a near religious-experience. Witnessing Franklin on stage singing “Respect” and “A Natural Woman” not only gave you goose bumps but stirred your soul.
Aretha Franklin’s legacy involves more than awards or record sales. The Queen of Soul forever changed American music with her voice and spirit.
Tony Violanti covers entertainment for Villages-News.com.
