Black Music Sunday is a weekly series highlighting all things Black music, with over 275 stories covering performers, genres, history, and more, each featuring its own vibrant soundtrack. I hope you’ll find some familiar tunes and perhaps an introduction to something new.
While writing the musical happy birthday to former President Barack Obama story earlier this month, I spent quite a bit of time listening to Aretha Franklin who is, was, and will always be “The Queen of Soul” in my book. It’s hard for me to believe that seven years have passed since she joined the ancestors, at the age of 76, on Aug. 16, 2018. Her musical gifts to us all have been a part of the soundtrack of my life since I first heard her in the 1960s.
For young folks in your lives who perhaps are familiar with Franklin only via hearing mom and dad or grandma and granddad play her music, or who don’t know her story here’s her bio, in a book for the littles in your life:
And here’s a 6-minute bio for some of you olders:
Music editor Simon Glickman, at Musician’s Guide, has a detailed biography of Franklin’s life. Here’s the opening, covering her beginnings:
Franklin was raised in Detroit, the daughter of famed minister C. L. Franklin and gospel singer Barbara Franklin, who left the family when Aretha was small and died shortly thereafter. The singer told Ebony's Laura B. Randolph, "She was the absolute lady," although she admits that memories of her mother are few. The Reverend Franklin was no retiring clergyman; he enjoyed the popularity and, to some degree, the lifestyle of a pop star. He immediately recognized his daughter's prodigious abilities, and offered to arrange for piano lessons. However, the child declined, instead teaching herself to play by listening to records.
Franklin's talent as a singer allowed her to perform with her father's traveling gospel show. She sang regularly before his congregation at Detroit's New Bethel Baptist Church as well, where her performance of "Precious Lord," among other gospel gems, was captured for posterity. She was 14 years old but already a spellbinding performer. Producer Jerry Wexler--who shepherded Franklin to greatness on behalf of Atlantic Records some years later--was stunned by the 1956 recording. "The voice was not that of a child but rather of an ecstatic hierophant [a priest in ancient Greece]," he recalled in his book Rhythm and the Blues.
Franklin's life was no church social, however. She became a mother at age 15 and had her second child two years later. "I still wanted to get out and hang with my friends," she told Ebony's Randolph, "so I wanted to be in two places at the same time. But my grandmother helped me a lot, and my sister and my cousin. They would babysit so I could get out occasionally."
Although first inspired by gospel music, Franklin soon became interested in non-religious music. After receiving her father's encouragement, she traveled to New York in 1960, embarked on vocal and dance lessons, and hired a manager. She then began recording demonstration tapes. Like singer-songwriter-pianist Ray Charles, who has often been credited with the invention of "soul music," Franklin brought the fire of gospel to pop music, her spiritual force in no way separated from her earthy sexuality.
Celebrated Columbia Records executive John Hammond was so taken by Franklin's recordings that he signed her immediately. Her first Columbia album was issued in the fall of 1960. While a few singles made a respectable showing on the charts, it was clear that the label wasn't adequately showcasing her gifts, either in its choice of material or production. "I cherish the recordings we made together," remarked Hammond in Rhythm and the Blues, "but, finally, Columbia was a white company [that] misunderstood her genius."
I was very aware of Franklin’s incredible recorded performance of “Amazing Grace,” and wore out several copies of the album.
In fact, I used it for the music at my first wedding. What I didn’t know was that it was also the title of a film that was “lost” for many years. In 2018, film critic Alissa Wilkinson wrote an in-depth review for Vox, which I can cite only a bit of.
It took 46 years for Aretha Franklin’s concert doc to come out. The wait was worth it.
Most of us aren’t used to thinking of documentaries as anything more than didactic tools, but there’s always been one big exception: concert films. Which makes perfect sense, since concerts are experiential; at a concert, you don’t just listen to the music, you become part of the music, feeling it flow through your body. And a good concert film is the next best thing.
But even among the pantheon of great concert docs, the long-lost Amazing Grace — which Sydney Pollack filmed over two nights in 1972, as Aretha Franklin recorded the live album of the same name that would become one of her most acclaimed — is an extraordinary film, one that seems like it could stir even the most skeptical soul.
The reason for that seems clear: Amazing Grace is not just a concert movie, but a gospel music concert movie, and one filmed in a church. Not some staid, folded-hands church — a vibrant and animated black church, with a congregation who knows that if you’re sitting in your pew watching other people make music every week, you should probably go elsewhere. Church is no spectator sport.
Kept under a bushel for more than four decades while it was held up by both technical issues and lawsuits, it seemed like Amazing Grace would never see the light of day. But now it has finally been finished and released just months after the singer’s show-stopping funeral. And for its 87-minute runtime, those of us in the audience aren’t an audience at all. We’re bearing witness to one of the greatest performances of all time. We get to be part of a ritual of remembrance, a cry for mercy, and a long plea for justice. And if we’re just sitting there watching other people make music, we’re doing it wrong.
The release of the film, which came after Franklin’s death, was discussed on CBS’ morning show.
CBS Mornings video note:
The film “Amazing Grace” captures Aretha Franklin recording her legendary gospel album of the same name over the course of two days in 1972. Two of Franklin's family members and the film’s producers join"CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-host Michelle Miller to talk about the documentary that took 46 years to make it to the big screen
Here’s the trailer:
Here’s the full concert film:
The Academy of Achievement continues her story, in “We all need respect. Everybody wants respect of some kind”:
Determined to make a change, in 1967, Franklin moved from Columbia to Atlantic Records, the R&B-oriented label founded by Ahmet Ertegun. Ertegun, the son of a Turkish diplomat, had spent his student years in Washington, D.C., where he fell in love with jazz, blues, and the entire rich tradition of African American music. He had focused on bringing black artists to the attention of a larger public, enjoying particular success with singer and pianist Ray Charles.
Ertegun assigned producer Jerry Wexler to work with Franklin. Rather than selecting material for her, Wexler urged her to choose her own songs. Rather than having elaborate orchestral arrangements written for her, he urged her to accompany herself on the piano and create the groove for each song, allowing improvising musicians to follow her lead. Her first single for Atlantic, “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You),” shot to number one on the R&B chart, and to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and gave the title to her first album. In December of 1967, the B-side of her first single, “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” also made the R&B Top 40.
I don’t usually post greatest-hits albums, but in this case, I’ll make an exception—there are just too many of her hits to post individually:
Track listing:1. Respect 0:00:00 2. I Say a Little Prayer 0:02:24 3. (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman 0:06:00 4. Think 0:08:455. Chain of Fools 0:11:03 6. Ain't No Way 0:13:497. Rock Steady 0:18:02 8. Bridge Over Troubled Water 0:21:179. Day Dreaming 0:26:4910. I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) 0:31:5111. You Send Me 0:33:3612. Until You Come Back to Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do) 0:36:0213. Son of a Preacher Man 0:39:2914. You're All I Need to Get By 0:42:4915. Baby I Love You 0:46:2516. Do Right Woman - Do Right Man 0:49:0817. Something He Can Feel 0:52:2418. The Weight 0:58:4319. Don't Play That Song 1:01:46 20. A Change Is Gonna Come 1:04:46
When Franklin passed, Daily Kos contributor True Blue Majority posted “If ‘Respect’ and ‘Think’ are the only Aretha songs you know... here is a two-hour playlist,” and she included this list:
Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
See Saw
Baby I Love You
I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)
Runnin Out Of Fools
Chain Of Fools
Dr. Feelgood
Rock Steady
Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)
Since You’ve Been Gone
Don’t Play That Song
Think
Come Back Baby
Something He Can Feel
Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves
I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)
Who’s Zoomin’ Who?
The House That Jack Built
Spanish Harlem
Dark End Of The Street
Day Dreaming
Freeway Of Love
Good To Me As I Am To You
I Say A Little Prayer
Baby, Baby, Baby
Respect
Ain’t No Way
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Drown In My Own Tears
Rolling In The Deep
Call Me
(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman
Angel
There are also too many powerful obituaries to post here. I’ll just sample a few of them. From Jon Pareles at The New York Times:
Aretha Franklin, Indomitable ‘Queen of Soul,’ Dies at 76
Ms. Franklin had a grandly celebrated career. She placed more than 100 singles in the Billboard charts, including 17 Top 10 pop singles and 20 No. 1 R&B hits. She received 18 competitive Grammy Awards, along with a lifetime achievement award in 1994. She was the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, in 1987, its second year. She sang at the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2009, at pre-inauguration concerts for Jimmy Carter in 1977 and Bill Clinton in 1993, and at both the Democratic National Convention and a memorial service for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
Succeeding generations of R&B singers, among them Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys, openly emulated her. When Rolling Stone magazine put Ms. Franklin at the top of its 2010 list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time,” Mary J. Blige paid tribute:
“Aretha is a gift from God. When it comes to expressing yourself through song, there is no one who can touch her. She is the reason why women want to sing.”
Ted Robbins, NPR:
Aretha Franklin, The 'Queen Of Soul,' Dies At 76
No one's life can be condensed to one word — but Aretha Franklin came close when she sang one word: "Respect."
"Respect" was written by the great Otis Redding. In his version, a man is pleading, offering his woman anything she wants in exchange for her respect. He sang: "Hey little girl, you're sweeter than honey / And I'm about to give you all of my money / But all I want you to do / Is just give it, give it / Respect when I come home ..."
Aretha changed those lyrics to demand parity. "Oooh, your kisses," she sang, "Sweeter than honey / And guess what? / So is my money ..." In her hands, "Respect" became an empowering song — for black women and for all women. It was a No. 1 hit in 1967, and it became her signature song.
Richard Williams, The Guardian:
Aretha Franklin obituary
On a crisp, sparkling day in January 2009, Aretha Franklin stood on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, an ample figure swathed in a spectacular ensemble of coat and hat in two shades of grey, singing My Country, ’Tis of Thee to her new president. All around her, and down the full length of the National Mall, the vast audience included African Americans with tears in their eyes, celebrating the inauguration of Barack Obama. She was facing west, as hundreds of thousands of slaves had done when they landed on a bitter shore at the conclusion of their portage from Africa. “Let freedom ring,” she sang, in the anthem’s famous exhortation, and many millions watching on television around the world could not help but share the resonance of a historic moment.
Franklin, who has died aged 76, sounded exalted that day. She almost always did, even when handcuffed to unsympathetic material. Her voice could scald or soothe, singing with equal intimacy and intensity to her God or a faithless lover. She was both the heir to the sacred tradition of Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward, frequent visitors to her childhood home, and the lineal descendant of the very secular Bessie Smith and Dinah Washington.
But it was that quality of exaltation that raised her above a remarkable generation of church-trained soul divas. Gladys Knight, Dionne Warwick, Candi Staton, Etta James, Mavis Staples, Tina Turner and many others were (and in some cases still are) great singers, but Aretha Franklin was the greatest of them all.
The Guardian also live-streamed the 9 hours of her funeral:
After she passed, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture posted this tribute:
The Queen of Soul: An Appreciation
As I think about what Aretha Franklin means to the world, I think about the essence of soul singing. A common definition of “soul” highlights its connection to gospel music, to rhythm and blues, and some degree, rock 'n' roll; soul also is the fully surrendered embrace of the spirit, awash with unbridled emotion. If you think of soul that way, you begin to understand why people called Aretha Franklin "The Queen of Soul."
Franklin’s legacy is not limited to her command of a musical genre or her popularity at any given time. Her voice put people in touch with something deeper, connecting them to their own emotions and feelings often ignored. The precision with which she conveyed the emotional power at the heart of any song was, quite simply, a work of art.
The way she used her voice always made us feel, no matter what the song. If the essence of music lies in its ability to help us to know our authentic selves and transcend to new heights, then it was Aretha Franklin who taught us how to listen and to make ourselves whole again.
By Dwandalyn Reece, Curator of Music and Performing Arts, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Franklin’s official website has a raft of videos you can explore, and since I can’t pick a favorite song among her many, I’ll pick one of my favorite “Aretha moments” to post here, and will have lots more in the comments section below.
WATCH: Aretha Franklin brings Obama to tears with rousing performance of ‘Natural Woman’
A slew of performances at the 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., that aired on CBS Tuesday night paid tribute to a group of honorees that ranged from “Star Wars” filmmaker George Lucas to Broadway actress and singer Rita Moreno.
But only one performance brought President Barack Obama to tears. And that was before the fur drop.
Singer-songwriter Carole King, 73, was one of the six honorees to receive 2015 Kennedy Center Honors in a year-end gala in the nation’s capital. Among the hundreds of compositions credited to her is 1967’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” a single co-written by King and made famous by soul singer Aretha Franklin.
Tuesday night, Franklin took the stage and sang what has become a staple for the Queen of Soul. From the moment Franklin appeared on stage in a floor-length fur coat, it was a master class in how to be a diva.
Looking forward to seeing/hearing what you select as your “Franklin favorites.”
