Aretha Franklin revisits church and childhood home in Detroit

[Music] family of Aretha Franklin continues to plan memorial events following the legendary soul singers death on Thursday at the age of 76 her funeral will be held at a four thousand seat Church in her native Detroit just a few miles down the road from the church that sewed the Queens of Souls royal roots back in 2011 for CBS Sunday morning I had a chance to go to that church with Aretha this is your spot this is where I sit when I come to church this is where this is my seat don't sit in my seat father the charismatic Reverend CL Franklin who was pastor he would Electrify audiences with his thunderous sir [Music] then he called his daughter up to the pulpit my dad had to push me the same though I really didn't want to sing Aretha was about ten years old I'm standing up on a little box a box yeah the pulpit was too high so they put a little box next to the pulpit so this was this was your place yeah this is where we lived we went back to the Franklin family home in West Detroit you were saying in the day it was a showplace yeah it was definitely a showplace it was the most beautiful home I had ever seen there was a room right the second floor yeah right there when gospel greats like Mahalia Jackson or Clara ward would visit the house the young Aretha would watch from the top of the stairs see who was coming in and who was going out and peopling through the railing of the staircase so it was special yeah very very special who did you like to see most of all anytime Aretha 's life was also marked by tragedy her mother who moved away when she was six died four years later in her autobiography Aretha wrote I cannot describe the pain nor will I try in 1979 her father was shot during a burglary in their Detroit home he lingered in a coma for five years before his death when we were trying to get the car Aretha asked the city to dedicate a local park to him she wanted us to see it but as we approached the park she was overcome by emotion that still means a lot - it took a minute for her to compose herself it's beautiful park I'm glad they dedicated it to you Reverend Franklin envisioned a great career for his talented daughter but likely even he did not imagine she would live to perform at the inauguration of the first african-american president [Music] that goes down in history I'm thankful that I was a part of that pretty amazing life incur that she had and what an extraordinary day that was I will I will never forget that day was there one standout mobile they were cut me and obviously she got very emotional talking about her father very unexpectedly when we approached the park I remember that and I will always remember her blushing when she mentioned it was like she was that 14 year old girl again at the top of the stairs you know the only beautiful thing in the last couple of days has been all the songs that we've gotten to hear over and over and over and that's the thing and that's what will survive it's one of the most incredible catalogs I mean I think of her as the greatest singer of our time just an incredible voice an incredible emotion such an original too and you know that tableau of that ending shot they're really just so symbolic so powerful things Anthony

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 356,878

Keywords: video, cbs, news, aretha franklin, singer, death, legend, family, memorial

Id: 3rdCsE7AwmU

Length: 4min 51sec (291 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 18 2018