Aretha Franklin 1942-2018

[opinionated ow]

Very sad news that Sister Ree, the Queen of Soul, passed away this week from Pancreatic Cancer. She was a genius and my favourite.

What made Aretha great was her ability to sing anything. She was amazing. She was also not afraid to work with anybody who she thought would help to make musical perfection. Whilst she was the undoubted Queen of Soul, if you look at who she worked with over time it's a veritable who's who. Be it Ray Charles (listen to the Coke ads they did ... could have been singles not commercials), Eurythmics, Keith Richards, Frank Sinatra etc. etc. those were epic but even more impressive is who she assembled to back her solo works: names like Muscle Shoals, King Curtis, Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie, Jerry Jemott, Cornell Dupree, Cissy Houston, her sisters Carolyn and Erma, Billy Preston, the Memphis Horns. Massively under rated was her talent on the piano - most of the piano work on her Atlantic albums was Aretha.

Aretha's personal life was less than perfect but her steadfastness in her faith lead to her piece de resistance: 1972's Amazing Grace. It is such a magnificent opus and her rendition of the title song with every syllable considered, emphasised and sung with conviction is an absolute work of art. She was an absolute God-given talent. Heaven's choir just gained the greatest.

Some of my favourites:
XmUXnQ_35-U
_3UJxD2za1Y
AAxEXp8VyZY
WY66elCQkYk

[SteveH]

May I add one? Recorded when she was just 21. A very mature song for her at her age. And one that shows the vast diversity of her talent. Courtesy of CBS Sunday Morning

jHYDafTrpMU

RIP

[nrc]

Respect. RIP


BTW, if you see tribute stuff from the streaming music giants, take it for the exploitative garbage that it is. These companies have for years been fighting legislation that would pay royalties for pre-1972 recordings the same as post 1972 recordings.

www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/arts/aretha-franklin-respect-copyright.html

[TravelGal]

Respect. RIP


BTW, if you see tribute stuff from the streaming music giants, take it for the exploitative garbage that it is. These companies have for years been fighting legislation that would pay royalties for pre-1972 recordings the same as post 1972 recordings.

www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/arts/aretha-franklin-respect-copyright.html

OOW, that was one of the best tributes I've ever read, about anyone. Excellent. Thanks for sharing.

Good article, nrc. I'm a veteran of the copyright wars of the '70's. I had left publishing by the time the revisions started kicking in but I can see how the wealth of the broadcasters stymied the rights of the artists. As we developed the "new" law, it happened all the time with cable (and still does). What the revision of the 1990's should have covered was anything written after 1972 or under copyright protection in 1972 until the life of that copyright and any subsequent renewals expired. Not just anything written after 1972. I guess we're lucky they chose 1972, since the law was passed in 1976 and didn't take effect until 1978, contrary to what the article says.

[opinionated ow]

OOW, that was one of the best tributes I've ever read, about anyone. Excellent. Thanks for sharing.


You're welcome. I was never fortunate to see her live in concert. I know she hated air travel so I guess I wouldn't ever have had that chance. I think Aretha was the best of a great generation that created phenomenal music. Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Booker T. & the MG's etc.