The Heartbreaking True Story About Aretha Franklin

aretha franklin was the queen of soul and her talents knew few limits no matter what life threw at her she stayed strong and never apologized this is the heartbreaking true story of aretha franklin born in memphis tennessee on march 25th 1942 to barbara siegers and reverend c.l franklin aretha louise franklin and her family moved to buffalo new york briefly before settling down in detroit michigan her father had become a baptist circuit preacher by the age of 18 and in detroit he worked as a minister at new bethel baptist church franklin's family in detroit initially consisted of her parents two sisters a brother and a half brother on her mother's side but after just a few years in detroit stickers ended her relationship with franklin's father and moved back to buffalo despite the breakup of her parents marriage franklin continued to see her mother during the summers and singers often visited the children in detroit however even though franklin expressed an interest in living with her mother her father made it clear that that wasn't an option tragically in 1952 siegers died of a heart attack when franklin was just 10 years old both of aretha franklin's parents were talented gospel singers and franklin's mother was also a skilled pianist her parents devotion to music gave franklin an early entrance into the world of gospel singing and due to her father's role in the church franklin joined the choir when she was just a toddler according to rolling stone aretha along with her two sisters irma and carolyn had significant musical talents however when a piano teacher was hired for franklin she hid from the teacher later in her life franklin would write learning how to play by ear allowed me to develop a rather personal and signature style which i treasure and would not give up for anything or anyone i didn't study i play by ear i don't read music at all reverend seale franklin also exposed his daughter to a variety of music figures including smokey robinson clara ward and sam cook in david ritz's biography on franklin titled respect smokey robinson recalls meeting aretha as a young child when aretha sat down even as a seven-year-old she started playing chords big chords all i could do was view aretha as a wonder child in 1956 at the age of 14 aretha franklin released songs of faith aretha gospel her very first album at the same time franklin already had a two-year-old child clarence and in january 1957 she had her second child edward although she had to drop out of school franklin maintains that her family supported her in every way encouraging her to pursue her musical career her sister irma and her grandmother rachel helped with raising the children while franklin was working and as her father started a gospel caravan which soon became widely successful franklin began touring the country with her father in addition to singing solos in new bethel at one point aretha franklin was introduced to phil moore an arranger and jazz pianist after playing just a handful of songs more turned to franklin's father and said aretha does not require my services her style has already been developed her style is in place it is a unique style that in my professional opinion requires no alteration emboldened by this franklin's father decided that they should try to get franklin a spot with columbia records and the meeting with producer john hammond didn't take long he signed her immediately declaring that franklin was quote an untutored genius and the best voice he heard since billie holiday franklin signed on to a six-year contract during which time she recorded ten different albums her first album with columbia records aretha with the ray bryant combo came out when franklin was 18 years old when aretha franklin was 18 she met 29 year old theodore ted white and by the next year they were married they had a child together and white also worked as franklin's manager but white sometimes ended up doing more harm than good to franklin's work one incident occurred in august 1967. franklin was supposed to perform as the headliner for the sclc at the atlanta hyatt regency but was banned from the hotel only a week earlier after she and ted got into a physical altercation undeterred franklin snuck in and ended up singing for two hours although the only people who know the exact details of their relationship are franklin and white there is significant evidence to support the idea that he was abusive towards her including the incident at the atlanta hyatt and according to jet when franklin and white were already divorced in 1970 white was investigated for shooting charles cook sam cook's brother who was a guest at franklin's home in the groin despite making numerous albums with columbia records franklin felt as if none of the records she recorded reflected her true self so when her contract with colombia expired franklin linked up with producer jerry wexler and signed with atlantic records in 1966 however working with atlantic records had a rough start according to song facts i never loved a man the way i love you is the only song franklin recorded in muscle shoals alabama at the fame studios however the recording session had to be cut short when her husband ted white got into a fight with the trumpet player there are various accounts as to what happened according to rolling stone white claimed that the trumpeter was using quote racist terms david hood who was playing trombone during the incident claimed that the trumpet player was making remarks to aretha that were quote cool and hip and all that as detailed in the rolling stone piece franklin and white were put off by the trumpet player's familiarity some in the studio white included had been drinking during the session and the confrontation escalated into a fistfight later that night white also got into a fistfight with producer rick hall who had tried to mediate the situation franklin disappeared after that night but one month later she arrived in new york city ready to finish recording the muscle shoals musicians traveled up to record with her franklin would repeat the same process for her next three albums with the band members traveling up from alabama each time to play with her so absolutely it was a milestone and the turning point in my career on february 14 1967 aretha franklin recorded respect which dwarfed otis redding's version almost overnight according to rolling stone franklin recreated the song from a plea into a demand in remarking on the song's impact the publication had this to say in franklin's voice respect was no longer a man's petition it was something of a threat that switched gender tables it was something wholly new when wechsler played the new version for reading he said i just lost my song respect was released during the long hot summer of 1967 when protests against racial inequality swept across the united states although franklin has said that she didn't sing the song with politics in mind she was moved when it naturally became quote a battle cry and anthem for a nation on june 28 1968 aretha franklin was featured on the cover of time magazine with the tagline the sound of soul becoming only the second black woman to be on the cover of the publication however according to rolling stone franklin was less than pleased with the inside article's representation of her although the piece recognized her talent franklin didn't like how it focused on her personal life and marriage despite this franklin pushed ahead and many consider her time at atlantic from 1967 to 1972 to be her golden era during this time franklin was also battling alcoholism but she continued to record numerous hits by the end of the 1970s franklin had won 10 grammys aretha franklin was surrounded by activism from a very young age and was always a very socially conscious artist she toured with martin luther king jr and along with harry belafonte doing concerts and fundraisers for reverend jesse jackson and in 1970 she even offered to pay angela davis bail after she was arrested for her supposed involvement in a courtroom shootout franklin stated that she would pay for davis bail whether the amount was a hundred thousand dollars or 250 thousand dollars in a 1970 interview with jett franklin explained why she wanted to help davis cause i'm going to see her free if there is any justice in our courts not because i believe in communism but because she's a black woman and she wants freedom for black people i have the money i got it from black people and i want to use it in ways that will help our people during the 1970s aretha franklin also started experiencing severe spells of depression at one point it got so bad that her family felt like they had no choice but to take her to the hospital but franklin wasn't happy when the media got wind of this incident and she ended up pressuring jet magazine to run an article that would portray her positively according to jet franklin held a press conference where she claimed that her hospitalization was caused by acute physical exhaustion due to her heavy schedule however atlantic's jerry wexler claimed in vanity fair that franklin frequently experienced depressive fogs that left her unable to do anything unless she really had to wexler told vanity fair i remember going to sit with her at the drake hotel and holding her hand and begging her to come to the studio because we had a room full of musicians and finally she came in and did it once you were there it was beautiful in 1980 aretha franklin signed with arista records and ended up staying with them for 27 years there she recorded jump to it which became her first top 40 hit in years franklin recorded numerous more hits during the 1980s and in 1987 her album one lord one faith won baptism won the grammy for best soul gospel performance that same year franklin made history by becoming the very first woman to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame during her entire career franklin recorded 58 albums and released 17 top 10 singles the latter being more than any other female singer in pop history franklin also won 18 grammys as well as three special grammy awards it was also during this period that franklin developed a serious fear of flying during a trip from atlanta to detroit the flight experienced such severe turbulence that franklin never flew again i'm flying down the highway in my costume in my custom bus okay aretha franklin remained a force to be reckoned with as the 20th century drew to a close in addition to writing her autobiography aretha from these roots she performed at president bill clinton's inaugural gala in 1993. ten years later president george w bush awarded her the presidential medal of freedom however during the last decade of her life franklin suffered from health problems that were later revealed to be caused by pancreatic cancer she also struggled against society's obsession with weight and during her illness there was frequent speculation on her weight loss which she said fluctuated due to her medication but despite her failing health franklin was competitive and creative to the end according to rolling stone aretha was always listening to the radio and wanting to know what the kids were listening to who was on the rise and who was on the decline it kept her going although franklin kept scheduling performances they often ended up being called off and in 2017 she announced that she was going to be retiring from touring although she intended to keep recording her final performance was on november 7th 2017. on august 16 2018 franklin passed away from advanced pancreatic cancer but her legacy will live on forever if you or someone you know is struggling with domestic abuse please call or chat online with a national domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-7233

Channel: Grunge

Views: 200,687

Keywords: grunge, aretha franklin, singer, music, celeb

Id: l7VCOVu5Ehw

Length: 12min 16sec (736 seconds)

Published: Mon May 17 2021