It has just come across the wires that the "Queen of Soul", Aretha Franklin, has passed away after an illness at 76.
Daughter of a Baptist minister, Aretha began her career singing gospel songs in her father's church, and recorded her first gospel record in 1956. After six years with Columbia, Aretha switched labels to Atlantic in 1967, and the hits started coming. "(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman". "Think". "R-E-S-P-E-C-T", and so on.
The 80's found Aretha making her acting debut in "The Blues Brothers". In the storyline, she was the wife of guitarist Matt Murphy. Franklin would return 18 years later in the sequel, "Blues Brothers 2000". Her only other films were documentaries, including a bio on Quincy Jones. In the mid-80's, she changed labels again, moving to Arista, where she scored a huge hit with "Freeway of Love" (which we posted the other day), as well as duets with Elton John ("Through The Storm"), Whitney Houston ("It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Ever Gonna Be"), George Michael ("I Knew You Were Waiting For Me"), and the Eurythmics' Annie Lennox ("Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves").
Aretha was also immortalized in the lyrics of Steely Dan's 1980 hit, "Hey Nineteen".
Bank on this. Come Grammy time this coming winter, they will honor the "Queen of Soul" with a major tribute.
Let's go back to 1980, and "The Blues Brothers", for a sequence leading to a performance of "Think".
Rest in peace, Aretha. God has called you home.
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