Aretha Franklin: The Queen Of Soul

The Queen of Soul Takes Control
November 4, 2007

ON a recent Sunday afternoon the Queen of Soul’s hotel room on Central Park South looked like an executive’s pit stop. Aretha Franklin had returned to New York City late after a concert in New Jersey, and the morning had been too busy for maid service. The afternoon was no less active: an interview to promote her new collection of duets, “Jewels in the Crown” (J Records), and then a fitting for her latest designer dress. There were clothes, cotton puffs and a real-estate brochure on the floor, along with a new copy of Alan Greenspan’s book “The Age of Turbulence,” which she said she was planning to read. The television played silently; a laptop computer was open on a coffee table.

Ms. Franklin may forever be associated with the 1960s, when she sang at civil rights rallies and gave the women’s liberation movement an early theme song with “Respect.” But now, at 65, she is more in control of her career than she has ever been. Like an increasing number of brand-name superstars, she has left the major-label recording companies. She is determined to tell her own story on screen. She’s considering choices as unexpected as piano study at that classical citadel, the Juilliard School. She has let the end of a long romance inspire some new, autobiographical songs. And after years of traveling on land she is determined to fly again.

Ms. Franklin was casually dressed. She wore a dark blue leather jacket over a gray sleeveless T-shirt and dark gray pants. She also wore a diamond-edged watch, a diamond-encrusted ring and a pearl necklace. (A visitor wasn’t about to ask if the pearls were real.) The dress she was having fitted would be worn for an event with Fergie: not the Black Eyed Peas’ singer, but Sarah, the Duchess of York.

When Ms. Franklin was a little girl, her father, the Rev. C. L. Franklin, predicted she “would sing for kings and queens,” she said. “Fortunately I’ve had the good fortune to do so. And presidents.”

She has been a star for four decades, in a celebrated path that led from her childhood performances at her father’s church to those indelible ’60s soul hits to ’80s pop hits like “Freeway of Love” and, in 1998, an R&B resurgence with the gold album “A Rose Is Still a Rose.”

Within a few moments of conversation it was clear that she is also still a product of her upbringing: a Detroit preacher’s daughter. She has fastidious manners — apologizing for the cough she picked up, she thought, by driving back to the city with the bus window open — and she spoke carefully but forthrightly, determined to leave no mistaken impressions. Her sentences were punctuated with the syncopated responses — “mm-hmm” — of someone who has attended a lifetime of gospel services.

Ms. Franklin, widely hailed as one of the greatest singers (and sometimes simply the greatest singer) of her time, is confident about her music but determinedly modest. When pressed, she admitted, “I’m pretty good,” then immediately knocked on wood.

“Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen” is due for release on Nov. 13. It assembles collaborations she has recorded through the years, including new ones with John Legend and Fantasia. It’s a shrewd anthology that brings together live performances and studio tracks culled from her own albums and from guest appearances with Frank Sinatra, George Michael and Eurythmics. Few of her partners even come close to keeping up with her.

Ms. Franklin revealed that the duets album completes her tenure with Clive Davis’s labels, J Records and Arista, which signed her in 1980. “It’s over,” she said. “You might as well say it’s over.” (Mr. Davis, the chairman and chief executive of the BMG Label Group, said by telephone: “The lawyers say that there are cuts owed. I don’t know that for a fact, I have not gotten into that. She and I, we’ve had a long relationship.”)

Ms. Franklin has already completed an album for her own label, Aretha’s Records, called “Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love.” It features songs she wrote and produced herself, rather than those by the established hit makers behind most of the material she recorded for Mr. Davis. “I made all of the selections,” she said, “and I really, really was just thrilled with that, that I didn’t have to ask anyone anything.”

Like other newly independent stars, from Radiohead to Joni Mitchell to the Eagles, Ms. Franklin is contemplating options outside major-label recording contracts. “You’ve got artists who have become very autonomous and are doing their own thing,” she said. “It’s a completely different ballgame now.” She is still working out how to distribute “A Woman Falling Out of Love.” It could be through a Web site, by mail order via an 800 number, through a small or large label, or all of them; she’s negotiating.

That album has an autobiographical core: Ms. Franklin chose the title “because it happens to be true,” she said. “It was based on a relationship that I had, and it just didn’t happen for a number of reasons, various reasons. It just didn’t happen. But I was very much in love with the person.” She didn’t provide more details but said that one of the songs she wrote for the album, “How Long I’ve Been Waiting,” was “directly related” to the failed romance.

Much of Ms. Franklin’s career since the 1970s has been an attempt to keep up with contemporary R&B and the vagaries of radio. “Put You Up on Game,” the duet with Fantasia from “Jewels in the Crown,” followed a typical process. The slangy song was written by the Underdogs, the producers behind the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack album. In it Fantasia is about to get married; Ms. Franklin urges her not to rush into it and chides, “Listen to the voice of experience!”

Although Ms. Franklin was an unwed mother at 15 and has been divorced twice, she said the attitude was just part of the song. “I love marriage,” she said. “I love the institution. But that’s on the personal side. This is on the recorded side. That’s the record, and that’s the way the producer wants to hear it.”

The banter in “Put You Up on Game” is also an illusion. Fantasia sang rough vocals in Los Angeles, Ms. Franklin added hers in Detroit, Fantasia redid her part in Los Angeles, and Ms. Franklin did a final take in Detroit.

The duet with John Legend, “What Y’All Came to Do,” is a funk song in the lineage of James Brown and Prince, written by Mr. Legend and the producer Devo Springsteen. Mr. Legend produced the vocal sessions; he said Ms. Franklin worked fast. “She just goes in there and starts to experiment with the lyrics and the melody, and then creates her story, her interpretation of it,” he said. “Soon, she says, ‘John, I’m ready to go,’ and she goes in there and sings it, and she just nails it. She was so on target and so powerful and so precise.”

To loosen up its recorded track, Mr. Legend used an old-fashioned trick: He recorded Ms. Franklin’s entourage chatting and making party noises. And for his own part, he said, chuckling, “I wasn’t going to compete with her.”

On “A Woman Falling Out of Love,” Ms. Franklin doesn’t try to cater to a young audience. “It’s mainly directed at the boomers,” she said. “The boomers have been given a very bad shake at this point as far as the music industry is concerned. There is very little music out there for them, and this is just not right.”

“You had a lot of stylists in the ’60s and ’70s,” she continued. “We definitely, unquestionably were the great artists. We were and are the singers. We came to the stage with a presentation. And we knew and know our craft. You know, I’ve only heard a few singers” — she italicized the word — “in the generation that’s happening now.” She praised Beyoncé, Mr. Legend and Musiq Soulchild, but also decried the video-era emphasis on looks and instant stardom.

“If you’re cute, you might be a star tomorrow,” she said. “But coming up through the ranks of our generation you had to have it, whatever it is.”

Ms. Franklin does not read music: “I play by ear,” she said. But she has long wanted to study classical piano. “I have been trying to get over to Juilliard for the last four years,” she said. She aspires to the virtuosity of jazz pianists like Oscar Peterson, Dorothy Donegan and Herbie Hancock and has been looking closely at the technique of Vladimir Horowitz. “Those are the heavyweights, yes,” she said. “But I realize that I do play a piano that maybe they couldn’t play. So I uniquely do appreciate the piano that I do play.”

Another potential project is a film based on her 1999 autobiography, “Aretha: From These Roots.” She turned down the one offer she received from Hollywood and is now talking with television networks. She is insisting on approval for cast and script. “The networks don’t want to give this up, and I’m not going to give it up, so we’re kind of at an impasse there,” she said.

This fall brought the release of previously unheard recordings. Atlantic/Rhino put out a two-CD set, “Rare & Unreleased Recordings From the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul,” including demos and outtakes from 1966 to 1973, and a concert CD, “Oh Me, Oh My: Aretha Live in Philly, 1972.” Her youthful voice sounds lighter, but Ms. Franklin says she can still hit every high note, although her voice now is “a little heavier, a little more mature, yes.”

For a time she sang with a diminished range. Then she gave up smoking, and was also found to have acid reflux. “It’s a million times better now. The quality, the range, the clarity, etc. Because now I’ve got the wrong things out of my diet. I was having Coca-Colas every day, chocolate, spicy foods. I just love hot sauce every day. And all of this stuff is treacherous when it comes to your voice.”

Ms. Franklin has not flown since 1983, when she took a two-engine plane through turbulence from Atlanta to Detroit. “That plane was dipsy-doodling all over the place,” she recalled, and the prospect of flying has given her anxiety attacks ever since. But she is eager to go to Paris, to Egypt and especially to the Middle East, “to see all the places that Jesus walked,” she said. “I am going to fly before it’s all over again,” she vowed. “Even if it’s just one more time.”

Meanwhile she rides her custom bus from gig to gig, tearing into her hits with a voice that holds the church and the blues, jazz and opera, heartbreak and sensuality and exaltation. Her band has arrangements, but the players have to pay constant attention; night after night she improvises, singing by instinct and inspiration. “I don’t want to analyze it,” she said. “I’ve never thought about it. Just never thought about it. And I don’t think I will.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/arts/music/04pare.html.../Franklin,%20Aretha&oref=slogin

Aretha Franklin on Wanting to Be a Ballerina
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/audiosrc/arts/shoes.mp3
(1:11)

Aretha Franklin on Her Career
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/audiosrc/arts/onhervoice.mp3
(1:14)

Aretha Franklin on Her New Album's Title
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/audiosrc/arts/albumtitle.mp3
(0:37)

The 'Detroit Free-Press' Tells The Story of Aretha Franklin's 'Respect'
By Pauline Millard
Published: November 02, 2007 11:30 AM ET
NEW YORK It's been 40 years since Aretha Franklin belted out her classic song, 'Respect' and The Detroit Free-Press put together an incredible multimedia package to honor the song and the people behind it.

'Respect,' which was written by Otis Redding, was actually recorded once before Franklin got to it in 1967. A Detroit band called The Rationals took a stab at it in 1966, but the recording lacked the punch that Franklin brought.

Could there have been, however, more punch? In an interview with Franklin's son, Teddy Richards, he mentions that on the day she recorded 'Respect,' Franklin had a cold. If you listen closely to the first time she sings, "What you need, you know I got it" she squeaks on the word "need." For whatever reason, producers never went back and fixed it.

The Free-Press also weaves in the important historical context from which the song arose. 'Respect' wasn't just a song Redding wrote, but the lyrics were rooted in the frustrations of the black community at the time.

In addition to the main video about Franklin and the song, there are shorter interviews with assorted personalities, such as recording artist Ciara, Free-Press staff writer Kelley L. Carter and Duke Fakir of The Four Tops.

And just to make sure you've been paying attention, the Free-Press added a little quiz to test your Aretha Knowledge.

As a music fan I could certainly sink my teeth into this project. The Free-Press should be lauded not only for their research and reporting skills, but for making this project as slick and professional looking as it is. They hit a truly high note with this one.

http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003667430
http://media.freep.com/respect/index.html

Aretha Louise Franklin

born March 25, 1942 at 10:30 PM in Memphis, TN (USA)
Sun in 4°51 Aries, AS in 15°47 Scorpio,
Moon in 17°29 Cancer, MC in 23°04 Leo
Chinese Astrology: Water Horse
Numerology: Birthpath 8

http://www.astrotheme.fr/en/portraits/h95STJhf92MX.htm

Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin performs mini-concert in Toronto
By: Victoria Ahearn, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Nov. 06, 2007

TORONTO - Proving her title as the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin took to the stage like a true diva at a free outdoor mini-concert in the city Tuesday, wearing a floor-length white fur coat and belting out five tunes with gusto, including her classics "Respect" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."

"We love you, Aretha!" fans screamed over and over as the 65-year-old gospel legend from Detroit got the crowd clapping, singing and bopping their heads with her legendary pipes outside Holt Renfrew's flagship Bloor Street store.

The half-hour show was part of the company's annual holiday window display launch, emceed by "Entertainment Tonight Canada" hosts Cheryl Hickey and Roz Weston.

Franklin was slated to sing four tracks with the band but wound up doing five, despite the chilly temperatures and rain that she tried to shrug off by pulling her fur collars over her throat to protect her husky vocals.

In a silver-sequined squirt and skirt combo, Franklin even sat behind the piano for a track from her upcoming album, "A Woman Falling Out of Love," set for release in the spring.

"It's kind of cold out here, as you know, so I'll probably be drinking hot tea, and that's all it is, just to keep my throat open, OK?" she said to the crowd of hundreds who stood in the rain, some for many hours, in a blocked off section of the luxury shopping district.

The superstar singer was only scheduled for that event in Toronto and planned to leave the next day. Her new compilation disc, "Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen," is set for release next week and boasts collaborations with an eclectic blend of artists, including Frank Sinatra, Mary J. Blige, Fantasia Barrino, John Legend and Keith Richards. The disc also has Franklin's unforgettable performance at the 1998 Grammy Awards, when she filled in at the last minute for a sick Luciano Pavarotti.

FRANKLIN DENIES WEDDING REPORTS
2007-11-13 23:15:19

Soul legend ARETHA FRANKLIN has dismissed reports she's planning to marry her longterm boyfriend WILLIE WILKERSON.
The Respect singer was reported to be attending wedding dress fittings in New York earlier this year (07), but Franklin, who has been married twice before, credits the erroneous story to an overzealous photographer.
She says, "I was just leaving the hotel in New York with my friend, and one of the photographers outside yelled, `Hey Aretha, what are you doing in town?' "And I said I was there to get a gown, but I didn't say a wedding gown. But he just ran with it." However, the 65-year-old admits she's not against the idea of marrying for a third time.
She adds, "I am amenable to it (marriage). I like the institution of marriage, and I like taking care of my sweetie."

http://www.pr-inside.com/franklin-denies-wedding-reports-r299341.htm

Aretha & Celine: Stepping Ahead?

By Allison Stewart
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, November 13, 2007; Page C05

Aretha Franklin never seemed comfortable during her '80s comeback, the one that produced a series of ill-fitting, synth-heavy pop hits that sounded more like "Footloose" soundtrack castoffs than material fit for a queen. Celine Dion came to power in the '90s but never seemed comfortable there, such a natural creature of the '80s that she might have born in a red Adolfo suit, with "Dynasty" hair and a cassette copy of "Yentl" clutched in her hand. Both artists have released painstakingly modern new discs -- Franklin, the duets compilation "Jewels in the Crown"; and Dion, the perky, almost-edgy "Taking Chances" -- in which they are dragged into the uncomfortable present, with varying levels of success.

"Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen" features chestnuts from Franklin's Reagan-era resurgence and tracks newly recorded with such artists as John Legend and Mary J. Blige. Everybody involved seems to be enjoying themselves except Aretha. She appears unengaged ("What Now My Love," her collaboration with Frank Sinatra, is one of those celebrity duets where the artists seem to be singing at each other); irritated by her dorkier partners (George Michael, on the great guilty pleasure "I Knew You Were Waiting [for Me]"); and only at ease singing her own songs (such as a crackling live version of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" with assists from Bonnie Raitt and Gloria Estefan).

The newly recorded tracks fare better than the old ones, maybe because the younger stars wisely leave the showboating to Franklin. Blige shows up for a nicely understated "Never Gonna Break My Faith," a gospel-y number that's as close to Motown bedrock as Franklin is likely to get these days. And while the Queen of Soul sounds as if she's seconds away from reaching over and tearing Fantasia's fool head off during the snappy "Put You Up on Game," it's still one of the best tracks here.

Franklin survives her latest comeback with her dignity mostly intact, which is more than you can say about Dion, who has always seemed refreshingly dignity-free. After spending the past few years making bank with her own Vegas show, Dion has emerged from her desert exile in search of a younger demographic. The helpfully named, artfully mussed "Taking Chances" is her attempt to put the contemporary in adult contemporary.

Dion has enlisted the same courtiers responsible for hits by Ashlee, Britney and Gwen, including songwriter Kara DioGuardi, ex-Evanescence brooder-in-chief Ben Moody and R&B singer Ne-Yo, and fed their tracks through some kind of Dion-ification machine, rendering them at once instantly familiar and slightly more rocking than her usual fare.

Surely no reasonable person has ever wondered what Dion would sound like plugging her way through a topical ballad about a battered woman so grim it makes Ingmar Bergman seem like Dane Cook, but the Moody co-penned "This Time" is actually kind of decent, as is a reverent karaoke copy of Heart's "Alone."

Dion's producers do a respectable job of ensuring that she never sounds ridiculous, though with few distinctive, iron-melting ballads , she often doesn't sound like herself, either. But unlike Franklin, who essays several of her duets with the enthusiasm of someone being held hostage, Dion makes her journey from cheesy MOR to cheesy pop-rock sound positively liberating. A little change, it turns out, can be a beautiful thing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/12/AR2007111201883.html?hp...

Earning the right to be a diva
Aretha Franklin releases her 59th album this week
Amy Verner
November 14, 2007

Aretha Franklin's next solo album is called A Woman Falling Out of Love. But if one thing is for certain, it's that people are still in love with her.

Threatened with cold, drizzly rain, she still attracted a crowd of hundreds when she performed outside Holt Renfrew in Toronto to unveil the luxury retailer's holiday windows last week.

When it was time for the 65-year-old soul singer to appear, her band started playing an introduction that they repeated at least once. Quite possibly twice. But so what if she arrived fashionably late; how often do Torontonians get to see a free mini-concert headlined by the undisputed queen of soul?

If Franklin is a diva, it's because she has earned the right to be one. Her legendary career and unparalleled voice are the reason why her entourage numbers in the dozens. She has sung for dignitaries including the Queen Mother, Prince Charles and former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Franklin released another album this week, appropriately titled Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets with the Queen. Although she said she "thoroughly enjoyed" working with R & B singer John Legend and that he's a "very, very likable person," they actually recorded the song What Ya'll Came to Do in separate studios. Same goes for Fantasia. "We each did two passes on the vocals and that was it," she said, politely excusing herself for sampling a decadent dessert while speaking.

Life does seem sweet enough for Franklin, who mentioned during her concert that A Woman Falling Out of Love (due in the spring) marked the end of a bitter personal relationship. When asked whether the Internet could prove a viable channel of distribution à la Radiohead, she joked, "It could be. Or 1-800-TIME-LIFE. Something like that."

She still gets touched by her fans, who she said range in age from eight to 80. "I was having dinner one evening and I heard this small voice say, 'Ms. Franklin, may I have your autograph?' I turned around and looked up and no one was there. And then I looked down and there was a little teenybopper. That was really nice," she said.

In a flattering New York Times profile published two days before her visit, Franklin said she was planning to read Alan Greenspan's new book, The Age of Turbulence. Had she started it yet? "Not yet," she admitted. "Right now, it's Bill Cosby and I'm reading a little bit of Obama and Alan will be next." (She said she is undecided about presidential hopeful Barack Obama.)

Cosby's book, Come on, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors, is about empowerment and the importance of building self-esteem. When Franklin sang from her famous repertoire last week - Respect included - her message was no different.

But instead of a motivational send-off, her parting words were, "I'll be back up here soon to shop," and word has it she did some retail therapy inside Holt Renfrew afterward (a portion of the nights sales went to the Children's Wish Foundation). A few pairs of shoes later, Franklin felt like a natural woman.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071114.ARETHA14/TPStory/TPEntertainm...

A WOMAN FALLING OUT OF LOVE is the upcoming studio album to be released by the R&B/soul singer Aretha Franklin. The album was set for a September 2007 release but it has been pushed back again. It is being produced by the singer's own Aretha Records. On this album, Franklin will perform duets with country star Faith Hill, gospel icons Shirley Caesar & Karen Clark Sheard and R&B star Fantasia.

Franklin has stated that, despite its title, the album is not a commentary on her romantic status, but rather, "something that all women can relate to."

Confirmed Songs
1."What You Come To Do (Put On Your Dancing Shoes) (featuring John Legend)
2."Let Me Put You On The Game (featuring Fantasia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Woman_Falling_Out_of_Love

Queen of Soul and her mates

Aretha Franklin provides some behind-the-scenes details about her duet dates with fellow stars.


MOST people say hello on the phone, but the Queen of Soul comes on the line and announces that an official audience has begun. "Hello, this is Miss Franklin calling. . . ."

Aretha Franklin, 65, has been in the spotlight since her youth. Along the way, she's recorded with some of the famous voices of the 20th century, which led to her new CD, "Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen." She scoffed when asked her philosophy of sharing a studio -- "I just sing, that's all I ever need to do" -- but she did speak of her peers on the album with fondness and, of course, r-e-s-p-e-c-t.


Frank Sinatra "What Now My Love" (1993)

"That's one of my favorites. It just swings, it just grooves. He was an absolute icon. We first met when he introduced me at the Oscars [in 1969] when I first came out to L.A. and performed 'Funny Girl' on the show. Introduced by a legend like Frank Sinatra? Please, that is starting at the top."


George Benson "Love All the Hurt Away" (1981)

"I was living in Encino when I recorded that one. You know, there are certain men, they have a magnetic charisma and class. They've just got it. Like Billy Dee Williams and George Benson."


Elton John "Through the Storm" (1989)

"It was in New York and it was the first time we had ever met. We had dual pianos set up. It went wonderfully. I'm spending this year and next working on my piano, returning to it. I've given so much time to my voice and now I want to return to the piano that was such a part of my early career."


Luther Vandross "Doctor's Orders" (1991)

"I remember it was in New York and Luther was upset that day. I can't remember what it was about. He was on the phone and then angry and in the hallway. I knew I had to try to smooth things with him, to help get him out of that mood. And of course it went fine. It was such a loss when he died."


Keith Richards "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (1986)

"We did it for the film [of the same title], and Keith and Whoopi Goldberg came to Detroit and it was just a great time -- we had a great groove going in the studio. I saw him not long ago, in a hotel lobby in Los Angeles. He looked well. It was right after he fell out of that tree. I asked if he was OK and he just cracked up. I thought, 'Well, he must be fine.' "


Whitney Houston "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be" (1989)

"Whitney was out to Detroit at her place about that time. I remember when it came time, she got a little upset with one of her parts of the song. The song goes back and forth between an older, experienced woman and a younger woman, and they're going back and forth over some man. There was some things that Whitney would not naturally say to me out of her respect to me, some things she felt were negative. I told her to just treat them like lines in a movie, take on the role of the song. Afterward, we got some nice hot soul food -- it was us and CeCe Winans. Whitney was fine by then."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-aretha18nov18,0,4858982.story

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01. Jumpin Jack Flash - with Keith Richards
02. Sisters Are Doin It For Themselves - with Eurythmics
03. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) - with George Michael
04. What Now My Love - with Frank Sinatra
05. Put You Up On Game - with Fantasia
06. What Y'All Came To Do - with John Legend
07. Never Gonna Break My Faith - with Mary J. Blige
08. Through The Storm - with Elton John
09. It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be - with Whitney Houston
10. (You Make Me Feel) Like A Natural Woman - with B.Raitt & G.Estefan
11. Doctor's Orders Duet - with Luther Vandross
12. Ever Changing Times - with Michael McDonald
13. Chain Of Fools - with Mariah Carey
14. Don't Waste Your Time - with Mary J. Blige
15. Love All The Hurt Away - with George Benson
16. Nessun Dorma - with The New York Recording Orchestra

Music review: Aretha Franklin duets with Fantasia, John Legend, others
Published: Thursday, November 15, 2007 | 8:03 PM ET
Canadian Press: Solvej Schou, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Aretha Franklin

"Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets with the Queen" (Arista)

Pity the fool who attempts to go up against the undisputed Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. At age 65, she can still sing circles around her younger counterparts.

Franklin demonstrates her ability to belt it out with the best of them on "Jewels in the Crown," a collection of 16 mostly old duets with such artists as Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, spanning almost the entirety of her career at Arista, from 1981 on.

The album also includes two new numbers: the Underdogs-produced smooth R&B tune "Put You Up On Game" with "American Idol" winner Fantasia and the much more funky, catchy "What Y'all Came to Do" with crooner John Legend.

The latter duet, which samples a riff from Sam & Dave's 1968 dance anthem "I Thank You," highlights Franklin's gritty soul chops in the best way possible. She whoops, she hollers, but she doesn't overdo it. Legend knows how to complement, versus compete with, her voice.

The best of "Jewels in the Crown" are actually reworkings of Franklin's '60s hits, from a grooving, layered version of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" with Bonnie Raitt and Gloria Estefan from 1993's Fox TV duets special to a spirited "Chain of Fools" with Carey from VH1's 1998 "Divas Live" concert.

Franklin's two duets with Blige may verge on the edge of a vibrato standoff, but also emphasize the elder chanteuse's deep-seated vocal and emotional influence.

There's nothing like hearing Franklin take on the soaring aria from Puccini's opera "Turandot" as a last minute replacement at the 1998 Grammys for the then-ailing Luciano Pavarotti. On a different note, 1987's dance-pop hit "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" with the Eurythmics remains a feisty gem.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/entertainment/071115/e111560A.html

Review of Work: Rare & Unreleased Recordings from the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul

FORGOTTEN FINERY
Even the Queen of Soul's outtakes are worth celebrating

Nov.15, 2007
By Jason Ferguson

Aretha Franklin is the Led Zeppelin of soul music. And no, that’s not a fat joke. As artists whose best work exists as perfect expressions of their respective genres’ transcendent capabilities, Aretha and Led Zep have become shorthand for what people mean when they talk about “soul music” or “rock & roll.” If you were trying to introduce the concept of either musical style to an alien, would there be any more exemplary representation?

There are unwelcome side effects to such dominance: Both artists have had their music overplayed to the point of numbness. (That someone’s first response to hearing Aretha belt out “Think” could be, “What commercial is that from?” is as good an argument as any for banning the use of pop songs in advertising.) Furthermore, it goes without saying that, outside of a well-defined “golden era” for each, their reputations outweighed their work. (Again, not a fat joke.)

For Aretha, that golden era is defined as the years between her 1967 debut on Atlantic Records and her 1972 decision to record a concept album with Quincy Jones. During that time, the Queen of Soul released eight studio albums, two live albums, one recorded-in-church gospel album and two collections of her Atlantic hits.

That body of work is a crystalline representation of soul music at its best. Incorporating bluesy piano, delicate balladry, swinging jazz, epic spirituality and that legendary Muscle Shoals take on rhythm and blues, the music produced in these five busy years is peerless in its perfection. And that’s ignoring the unignorable: Aretha Franklin’s precision-tuned typhoon of a voice, an instrument so often examined and marveled at that any further attempts at dissection or description would be redundant.

So why is it that, while both she and Led Zeppelin have been treated recently to reissues – Aretha with a previously unreleased live album and a two-disc compilation of unreleased session recordings, Zeppelin with a remastered version of a live album released 30 years ago and a two-disc compilation of their best-known songs – it’s Page and Plant that are getting so much attention? Nothing against those folks who are excited about hearing the 27-minute version of “Dazed and Confused” in improved fidelity, but the opportunity for a look at what got left out of the best soul albums ever recorded is worth celebrating.

Rare & Unreleased Recordings starts, appropriately enough, with three Aretha-at-the-piano demo recordings. Two of the songs – “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” and “Dr. Feelgood (Love Is a Serious Business)” – were rerecorded for inclusion on her Atlantic debut. The other, “Sweet Bitter Love,” is a song she recorded for Columbia in 1965, the year before she signed with Atlantic, and would again record for Arista in the ’80s. All three of the songs are stunningly forceful, especially given their simplicity and the variable fidelity of the recordings. Aretha’s voice evinces the rough, raw edges of a practice session, but still manages to evoke the room-filling authority and warm range for which she is known.

From there, it’s four songs recorded during the sessions for Aretha Arrives and Aretha Now, two albums that, stylistically, are of a piece with her debut. Accordingly, the outtakes share a similar vibe: piano-driven rhythms and bluesy undertones, with That Voice driving the bus right through your heart. Why they didn’t make the cut 30 years ago is a mystery. Less puzzling is why “Talk to Me, Talk to Me” didn’t make it onto Soul ’69. That album put Aretha in a big-band setting (along with top-notch players like Pepper Adams, Ron Carter, Grady Tate and others); this cut is all down-and-dirty soul.

For all the cover versions that made it onto Aretha’s albums, there are even more to be found on this set. While it’s tough to comprehend the decision-making behind having her sing “My Way,” the versions of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” “The Fool on the Hill” and “You’re All I Need to Get By” stand as solid proof that the Queen could truly make any song her own.

As the unreleased collection wends its way from Muscle Shoals beginnings through her Donny Hathaway–assisted early-’70s period, the changes in style are overshadowed by the sheer power of Aretha’s voice. Riveting numbers like “I Need a Strong Man (The To-To Song)” and “You’re Talking Up Another Man’s Place” (from the Young, Gifted and Black and Spirit in the Dark sessions, respectively) could have slotted easily onto the remarkable albums from which they were omitted.

But when the wall of outtakes from 1973’s Hey Now Hey (The Other Side of the Sky) is hit, it’s clear that this diva’s glory days were coming to a close. While her voice is in full, poetic form, the overstuffed arrangements – courtesy of Quincy Jones – do her no favors. A total of eight songs from the sessions are included; none will do much to change anyone’s mind about the album they could have been on.

But, tucked between those leftovers and some middling, late-period outtakes is a duet between Aretha and Ray Charles on Duke Ellington’s “Ain’t But the One.” Recorded in 1973 for a television tribute to Duke, this is remarkably one of only two available collaborations between these two soul music titans. (The other is the two of them doing Aretha’s “Spirit in the Dark” on her Live at Fillmore West LP.) The release of this sort of gem is the kind of news that would qualify a Led Zeppelin reissue for front-page treatment. Here, it’s a footnote on a stellar package that is unlikely to generate the attention it should.

As Aretha releases duets CD, she admits to 1 career frustration

11/16/2007, 2:11 p.m. EST
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY
The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Aretha Franklin recounts working with greats such as Frank Sinatra, Luther Vandross and Whitney Houston on her latest CD with such nonchalance, you might think she was discussing the weather.

It's not for lack of interest — the Queen of Soul calls "Jewels of the Crown: All-Star Duets With The Queen," a "brilliant" album, and stresses: "I don't say that a lot about a lot of things."

It's just that unlike her raw performances, the legend rarely betrays much emotion in interviews, speaking in a matter-of-fact manner even when discussing some of her extraordinary collaborations.

Still, she can get animated, and when she does, it's a surprising subject that draws her ire: Hollywood. Though Franklin had bit parts in the "Blues Brothers" movies and is trying to put together a biopic on her own life, she wishes that she had had a larger presence in that medium.

"Unfortunately, I have not gotten the offers from Hollywood that I would have liked to have gotten," Franklin, 65, said during a recent phone interview with The Associated Press. "I don't understand why it's so hard for longtime artists in the music industry who have numerous awards and citations and things like that to even get a pittance of an offer from Hollywood. It just doesn't happen. What is the problem?"

Franklin already believes she knows the answer: a color barrier. And she believes many of her peers have fallen victim to the same problem.

"I look at other artists who came along at the same time I did, certainly other celebrated women like Dionne (Warwick) and Natalie (Cole) and Roberta Flack ... people like that, they weren't offered anything either. It's just so unfair."

Franklin doesn't believe it's getting any better for black entertainers either, despite recent Oscar wins by the likes of Halle Berry and Jennifer Hudson.

"It's a little disappointing to see in 2007 that that kind of thing is still happens, and you've got a huge set of double standards there," she says. "Halle Berry is only one person — please!"

Franklin says opportunities in Hollywood for blacks tend to come only when they create opportunities for themselves. To that end, she's working with producers to create a film about her own life, in which she'd like to see Berry, Hudson, or even Fantasia (who is featured on the new duets CD) portray her. Plans for a feature film fell through, but Franklin is in talks with a network to do a two-part series, and a play is also in the works.

But, of course, her primary focus remains music. Though she has been working on an album of new material for own label, Aretha Records, she decided to release "Jewels of the Crown" at the urging of record mogul Clive Davis, who produced the record. It has a couple of new tracks on it, including a duet with John Legend and another with Fantasia. But mostly it's previously heard collaborations with some of pop's greatest voices.

Luther Vandross is one of the luminaries, featured on the track "Doctor's Orders." For Franklin, hearing the duet with Vandross, who died two years ago, "brought back very, very pleasant, fun, and of course sad memories."

Franklin recalls Vandross wasn't in the best mood when she first entered the studio — irritated by something that had happened before she came.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf....xml&storylist=newsmichigan&thispage=1

In Praise of ... Aretha Franklin
What makes Aretha Franklin stand out is her fusion of gospel roots with rhythm and blues

There are certain things Aretha Franklin can't do. She can't do jazzy pop, which is the mold Columbia records failed to make her fit in the early 60s. She can't do disco, which is why she was left behind in the late 70s. And even Aretha can't rescue the fallen star that is George Michael. But when this singer is on home ground, she is untouchable. Her title "Queen of Soul" is a grand one - but even that doesn't quite catch her gifts. As today's Film&Music section makes clear, what makes Aretha stand out is her fusion of gospel roots with rhythm and blues. Daughter of a Detroit preacher, gospel is the music on which Aretha was raised. As a recent New York Times interview observed, even her sentences are "punctuated with the syncopated responses - 'mm-hmm' - of someone who has attended a lifetime of gospel services". The tradition marks her singing voice too, which hovers between exultation and supplication. But what she testifies to is not divine splendor; her songs are also freighted with the experience of being an unmarried mother at 15, and twice divorced. That may have inspired the assertiveness beloved of civil-rights protesters, and others striving for social recognition: before becoming a staple of drunken karaoke nights, Respect was a feminist anthem. Now 65, Aretha remains intellectually engaged: the NY Times interviewer noted she was clutching the memoirs of Alan Greenspan. As well as an economist, he is a fellow musician; scope, perhaps, for a collaboration?

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/161660.html

Aretha Franklin - Jumpin Jack Flash
(with Keith Richards,Ronnie Wood)


Aretha Franklin,Eurythmics-Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves


I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) George Michael & A Franklin


Put You Up On Game - Aretha Franklin & Fantasia


What Y'All Came To Do - Aretha Franklin & John Legend


Never Gonna Break My Faith - Aretha Franklin & Mary J. Blige


Queen Aretha and Sir Elton "Through The Storm"


Aretha & Whitney: It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna


Natural woman (live) - Aretha Franklin & Others
feat. Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Carole King & Shania Twain


Ever Changing Times-Aretha Franklin, Michael McDonald


Mariah Carey & Aretha Franklin - Chain of Fools


Love All The Hurt Away


Nessun Dorma (Gala Version)

Aretha rips Hollywood

November 17, 2007

Aretha Franklin, it turns out, really wanted a career on the movie screen. In an Associated Press chat to tub-thump for her album "Jewels of the Crown: All-Star Duets with the Queen" (see Sunday's Free Press Sound Judgment page for a review), she notes that she had bit parts in the "Blues Brothers" movies and is trying to put together a biopic on her own life. "Unfortunately, I have not gotten the offers from Hollywood that I would have liked to have gotten," she bemoans. "I don't understand why it's so hard for longtime artists in the music industry who have numerous awards and citations and things like that to even get a pittance of an offer from Hollywood. It just doesn't happen. What is the problem?"

A color barrier, she says. "I look at other artists who came along at the same time I did, certainly other celebrated women like Dionne (Warwick) and Natalie (Cole) and Roberta Flack ... people like that, they weren't offered anything either. It's just so unfair."

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007711170359

According to a recent interview in the New York Times, Aretha Franklin has conquered her fear of flying. She was put off air travel in 1983 by a bout of turbulence during a hop in a small plane between Atlanta and Detroit; now her apparent readiness to queue for the check-in once again opens up the possibility that her admirers outside North America will be able to hear her live and direct for the first time in a quarter of a century. In the meantime, there is this extraordinary two-CD set of mostly unreleased recordings from her matchless prime.

Such trawls through the tape vaults, while often providing the ballast for luxuriously packaged box sets, rarely unearth material of great interest to anyone other than superfans and completists. This one is the exception, shedding new light on the most creative period of Franklin's career, which began in 1967 when she left Columbia Records, whose executives had never grasped the essence of her talent, to take up residence in the house of Atlantic, where an instinctive rapport with the producer Jerry Wexler created the environment in which she could deliver her finest work.
This collection of 35 songs from a six-year period begins with a brief intercom exchange between Wexler, supervising the session from the studio control room, and Franklin, who is at the piano, recording demos for her first Atlantic session with an unknown double bassist and drummer, probably the regular accompanists of her nightclub act. "Hey, it started to get good in there," Wexler says. "Yes, it did," Aretha replies. "It had that rockin' thing."

And then she resumes the slow-rocking triple-time gospel riff that underpins I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Loved You), the first of the run of classic Atlantic hits with which Wexler succeeded in making her a fixture in the top 10, elevating her to the same commercial level as the products of Motown and Stax simply by emphasising the gospel roots that others had foolishly chosen to compromise.

In this demo, and in the similar treatment of Dr Feelgood that follows it, we can hear with perfect clarity the way Wexler and Atlantic's gifted arranger, Arif Mardin, allowed Aretha's own piano-playing to determine the style and pattern of each arrangement. By the time they added the marvellous session musicians from Muscle Shoals, Memphis or New York, a sense of relaxation allowed her to produce vocal performances of such majesty and impact.

In the last of the trio of demos with which this set opens, Franklin ruminates over a Van McCoy ballad called Sweet Bitter Love, which she had already recorded for Columbia and to which she would return many years later. On this dead-slow version, with its false start and its crude recording, Franklin achieves a degree of deep-soul intimacy remarkable even by her own unequalled standards. It is hardly fanciful, given the match between the lyric and the known facts of her troubled love life, to suggest that she was simply singing to herself.

The collection is studded with other wonderful moments. So Soon is another McCoy composition, this time with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section rapping out an irresistible four-on-the-floor Northern soul stomp and sisters Carolyn and Erma Franklin providing the backup echoes. The treatment of You're Taking Up Another Man's Place, a classically proportioned Memphis soul ballad by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, outdoes even Mable John's redoubtable original. Early takes of You're All I Need to Get By show her feeling her way through a song until she inhabits it. Tree of Life and I Want to Be With You are the best of a fine bunch of outtakes from the 1972 sessions with Quincy Jones. The duds are restricted to three unsuitable covers - The Fool on the Hill, You Keep Me Hangin' On and Suzanne - and two originals sharing a single theme, Mr Big and I Need a Strong Man, in which her submissive pleas sound banal and unconvincing.

But if there is a single reason, apart from Sweet Bitter Love, for investing in this set, it must her reading of My Way, a song so notorious that it has its own Wikipedia entry. Written by Claude François, Jacques Revaux and Gilles Thibaut as Comme d'habitude, the song's destiny changed when Paul Anka replaced Thibaut's original words with an English lyric that set the tone for the descent of western civilisation into a hell of shameless greed and self-regard. On the face of it, then, a most unsuitable choice. But Aretha performs a near-miraculous rehabilitation, cleansing its soul by taking it to church - a place in which, quite clearly, it had never set foot - and making something rivetingly authentic of its tawdry melodrama.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2211359,00.html

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Aretha Franklin's storied career is the focus of two new retrospectives, "Rare & Unreleased Recordings From the Golden Reign of the Queen of Soul" and "Oh Me Oh My: Aretha Franklin Live in Philly, 1972".

Partnered with young gun Fantasia, Franklin is also back on the R&B charts with "Put You Up On Game," one of 16 tracks featured on the compilation "Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen", due in stores November 13. The J Records release includes guest turns by Annie Lennox, George Michael, Mary J. Blige and John Legend.

Billboard recently caught up Franklin before a charity concert in New York.

1. WHAT ONE SPECIAL MEMORY SURFACED AFTER REVISITING THE "JEWELS" DUETS?

The duet with Frank Sinatra, "What Now My Love", is one of my favourites. It was 1969 and I went to Los Angeles to perform "Funny Girl" on the Academy Awards. Frank introduced me that night; to be introduced by the chairman of the board was a big moment for me. I had always wanted to duet with him. Frank always had the best arrangers, and his song selection and phrasing were impeccable.

2. IS THERE ANYONE ELSE ON YOUR DUET WISH LIST?

Absolutely. Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan. And you never know, Natalie Cole and I may do something. We've touched on that.

3. IS A NEW STUDIO ALBUM ON THE WAY?

It's called "Aretha: A Woman Falling Out of Love" on Aretha's Records. I think we're going to go to the Internet with that album, probably in the spring. Two fine young writer/producers, Troy Taylor and Gordon Chambers, worked on the album, which is mostly R&B with some pop. I also did some of the writing and production chores with Mike Powell and my son Kecalf.

4. WHERE DO THINGS STAND WITH YOUR STAGE PLAY, "ARETHA: FROM THESE ROOTS?"

That's coming along very well. Now we're talking about it as a follow-up to a telefilm that I'm negotiating with one of the networks. I'm very disappointed, though, that I haven't received the film proposals I would have loved to see from Hollywood. I did get a couple but they were very poor offers. They don't seem to respond to female celebrities in some ways as they do in others. So negotiations for a film broke off.

But the play is still definite. I have a consortium of gentlemen who are going to back it. I held auditions over five days and out of the 500 people we auditioned, I selected one. That gives you an idea as to how scrutinizing I am when it comes to this project.

5. HAVE YOU CONQUERED YOUR FEAR OF FLYING YET?

I'm driving out to L.A., but this is going to be my last time coming to the coast until I'm flying again. I'm going to give it one more try. The last time I took Fearless Flyers classes was about five years ago. If it doesn't happen, at least I tried.

Actually, I'm kind of planning my semi-retirement. I will always be singing somewhere but I won't be going on the road to the degree that I have before. But I'll still do select things and still record. I'm more into supporting my sons now and getting their careers out there.

Kecalf writes, produces and also has a degree in film. Eddie sings and I've recorded some things with him. And Teddy has his own rock group that goes to Europe three to four times a year to do the festivals.

6. IS AN "AMERICAN IDOL" APPEARANCE IN THE WORKS?

We've talked a number of times. Unfortunately, the show is on hiatus at the time I'm usually coming out to the coast. But since I'm coming in February, maybe I'll be able to do it this time.


Areta Franklin Schedule

Fabulous Fox Theatre
Atlanta, GA November 20, 2007
Tuesday 7:00 pm

Pechanga Resort & Casino - Showroom
Temecula, CA February 1, 2008
Friday 8:00 pm

Pechanga Resort & Casino - Showroom
Temecula, CA February 2, 2008
Saturday 8:00 pm

McCallum Theatre
Palm Desert, CA February 12, 2008
Tuesday 8:00 pm

Nokia Theatre Live - La
Los Angeles, CA February 14, 2008
Thursday 7:15 pm

Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Baltimore, MD March 20, 2008
Thursday 8:00 pm

Radio City Music Hall
New York, NY March 22, 2008
Saturday 8:00 pm