Entertainer Aretha Franklin performs
at New York's Radio City Music Hall,
July 6, 1989. On August 13, 2018, a
family reported from Detroit to the
press that the superstar 'Hall of
Fame' soul singer was gravley ill.
(AP Photo/Mario Suriani)
Sam
Cooke
tribute
concert
Sunday
at the
State
Theatre.
Aretha
Franklin.
Photo
taken
November
6, 2005.
On
August
13,
2018, a
family
reported
from
Detroit
to the
press
that the
superstar
'Hall of
Fame'
soul
singer
was
gravley
ill.
(Plain
Dealer
photo by
Scott
Shaw)
Vigil
held at
Detroit
church
for
Aretha
Franklin
UPDATED-081518
DETROIT
- People
are
praying
for
Aretha
Franklin
in the
Detroit
church
where
her
father
was once
a
pastor.
The
special
vigil at
New
Bethel
Baptist
Church
began
before
dawn
Wednesday.
The
prayers
come one
day
after
Stevie
Wonder
visited
the
ailing
Queen of
Soul at
her
home.
The Rev.
Jesse
Jackson
and
Franklin’s
ex-husband,
actor
Glynn
Turman,
also
visited
Franklin,
who is
seriously
ill.
A
person
close to
Franklin,
who
spoke on
the
condition
of
anonymity
because
the
person
was not
allowed
to
publicly
talk
about
the
topic,
told The
Associated
Press on
Monday
that the
singer
is ill.
No more
details
were
provided.
The
76-year-old
canceled
planned
concerts
earlier
this
year
after
she was
ordered
by her
doctor
to stay
off the
road and
rest.
Tributes
pour in
for
'gravely
ill'
Hall of
Famer
Aretha
Franklin
By Chuck
Yarborough,
The
Plain
Dealer
CLEVELAND,
OH -
"Respect.''
That
one-word
admonition
became
the
mainstay
on
social
media
when
word
came
Monday
that
Rock &
Roll
Hall of
Famer
Aretha
Franklin
is
gravely
ill.
Several
outlets
were
reporting
that
Franklin's
family
has been
told she
has
cancer,
that her
weight
has
dropped
to 85
pounds
and that
the end
could
come "at
any
time.''
Her
family
is with
the
76-year-old
"Queen
of
Soul''
in a
hospital
in
Detroit
on
Tuesday.
"Respect."
The word
is more
than the
title of
one of
her most
popular
songs.
It's
also the
most
appropriate
sentiment
echoed
time and
again
Monday,
by fans,
journalists
and
people
in and
outside
of the
music
industry.
"My
most
vivid
memory
of that
is that
she
agreed
to come
but not
to
perform,''
said
Lauren
Onkey,
who was
in
charge
of
putting
together
the Rock
& Roll
Hall of
Fame's
2011
American
Music
Masters
concert
honoring
Franklin,
who in
1987
became
the very
first
woman
inducted
into the
Rock
Hall.
"I
went to
get her
from her
box -
she was
going to
receive
the
award
and I
was
getting
my
courage
up to
ask her
to
perform,
and she
leaned
over and
said,
'I'd
like a
piano,
please,'
'' said
Onkey,
who now
lives in
Washington,
D.C.,
and is
senior
director
of NPR
music.
"She
ended
the
night at
the
piano
doing
the
great
Leon
Russell's
song 'A
Song for
You,'
which
she had
covered
and made
her
own,''
said
Onkey.
"For
the
first
time, I
really
paid
attention
to her
piano
playing,''
Onkey
said,
noting
that
growing
up amid
the
gospel
sounds
of
Memphis
before
moving
to
Detroit
infused
Franklin
with an
innate
sense of
subtleties
and
melodies.
"She
was just
a master
pianist,
and
people
don't
think of
that,''
she
said.
John
Soeder,
who
covered
that
2011
show for
The
Plain
Dealer,
captured
the
moment
for
print,
and
recalled
it in an
email.
"I
stand by
what I
wrote in
my
review
of that
last
one:
'That
once-in-a-lifetime
voice of
hers
remains
a
national
treasure.
It is a
voice as
big as
America.
And from
sea to
shining
sea, it
can
carry
just
about
any
style of
tune you
like.
Gospel.
Blues.
R&B.
Pop.
Rock 'n'
roll.
Yes,
even
jazz.''
As
effusive
as his
praise
was,
Soeder
missed a
genre.
In 1998,
an
ailing
Luciano
Pavarotti
had to
pull out
of the
Grammy
Awards
broadcast.
His
replacement
for his
signature
aria
from
Giacomo
Puccini's
"Turandot,''
"Nessun
Dorma,''
was
Franklin.
"Still
gives me
goosebumps,''
said
Clevelander
Keleigh
Rae
Bowling,
who
attached
a video
of the
performance
to her
Facebook
post.
Facebooker
Sherri
Watson
Lehman
agreed.
"Aretha
is
everything,''
Lehman
posted.
" 'Chain
of
Fools,'
those
vocal
runs,
'Nessun
Dorma,'
singing
for
[Barack]
Obama
when she
wore
that
huge fur
and just
slung it
on the
stage.
"She
is the
voice of
baby
boomer
women,''
Lehman
wrote.
"Sending
her love
and
hopes
for a
peaceful
transition.
God must
be
seeing
the
[expletive]
going on
down
here and
needs
Aretha
to cheer
up.''
"I
worked
with
Aretha a
couple
of
times,''
said
Jeannie
Emser,
who is
now part
of the
media
relations
team at
Playhouse
Square
and
worked
the old
Front
Row.
"She
liked
working
Cleveland
because
she
wouldn't
fly, and
Cleveland
was
close
enough
for her
driver
to get
her here
from
Detroit.''
Missy
Elliott,
the
rapper,
singer,
dancer
and
producer,
was one
of many
who took
to
Twitter
to voice
support
and love
for
Franklin
. . .
and
others.
"My
prayers
are with
Aretha
Franklin
& her
family
during
this
difficult
time,''
Elliott
tweeted,
and
added
"We MUST
CELEBRATE
the
Living
Legends
while
they are
here to
see
it,''
citing
Franklin
as well
as
Stevie
Wonder,
Tina
Turner
and
Patti
LaBelle.
For
some of
us, one
of the
defining
Aretha
moments
comes
during
the film
"The
Blues
Brothers,''
when she
sings
"Think''
to her
husband
as Jake
and
Ellwood
Blues -
John
Belushi
and Dan
Aykroyd
- show
up at
their
diner to
"put the
band
back
together.''
"Aretha
Franklin's
'Chain
of
Fools'
inspired
me to
love
Motown
music!"
wrote
Judy
Campbell
in a
Facebook
post.
"She
taught
me that
the
Music
and the
Arts
reach
across
all
levels
of
society
and make
us all
better
people.''
"Squarely
in the
upper
echelon
as an
incredibly
important
figure
in
music,''
said
Rock
Hall
President
and CEO
Greg
Harris
when
asked in
a
telephone
interview
just
where he
sees
Franklin's
legacy.
"You
may have
noticed
it
symbolically,
but she
was the
first
female
inducted
into the
Rock &
Roll
Hall of
Fame in
1987,''
he said.
"That's
pretty
powerful.''
Harris,
who had
not yet
ascended
into the
leadership
role in
2011,
was on
the Rock
Hall
staff
for that
American
Music
Masters
moment,
but
missed
her
first,
in 2005,
when the
Rock
Hall
paid
homage
to the
late Sam
Cooke.
It
was
another
opportunity
for
Plain
Dealer
writer
Soeder
to break
out the
superlatives
in a
review:
"Resplendent
in a
white
choir
robe and
pearls,
Franklin
danced
across
the
stage in
her
stocking
feet as
she
closed
the show
with a
roof-raising
set,''
he
wrote.
"She
delivered
a
triumphant
'He
Never
Lost a
Fight'
while
tambourine-shaking
backing
vocalists
proclaimed:
'He
rose! He
rose! He
rose!' "
"Her
talent
was off
the
charts,''
Soeder
wrote in
a
separate
email.
"Aretha
Franklin
will
forever
be
synonymous
with
soul
because
her
music
took us
places
typically
off
limits
to mere
mortals.''
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