Aretha Franklin - An appreciation thread

No love for the Queen?

Boomers typically consider her the greatest voice ever. But I think the arrival of Whitney and Mariah makes her voice seem not as great by comparison. Still, she has more grit, soul and creativity than either of those women. And her version of "Ain't No Way" is better than either version that Whitney attemped. Her peak albums are works of art. Her most underrated album is Hey Now Hey (the other side of the sky). I don't know why that album was dismissed at the time but it has aged very well, a lot of that album is really out there in terms of execution.

This is one of the best songs from Hey Now Hey

One of the if not THE voice of a lifetime. All hail the queen.

OP, I loved that clip. Actually teared up. Totally agree with R2 and R4.

Her Love All the Hurt Away album was not beloved and is now largely forgotten, but it has some gems, my favorite of which is her playful, joyful version of Sam and Dave’s Hold On, I’m Comin’ - complete with the mid-insertion of an adapted nursery rhyme.

Here she is performing it on The Tonight Show. She may not have been a consistent live performer, but when she hits her stride and cuts loose, she’s peerless.

better than Dionne's

for precision and range and power, nobody beats Re

I adore Aretha. She had a very distinctive style. She sang the shit out of this song

[quote] Her Love All the Hurt Away album was not beloved and is now largely forgotten, but it has some gems, my favorite of which is her playful, joyful version of Sam and Dave’s Hold On, I’m Comin’ - complete with the mid-insertion of an adapted nursery rhyme.

She won a Grammy for "Hold On, I'm Comin'." Her time at Arista had some commercial triumphs but it was not well-spent in adding to her artistic legacy. I saw her perform "It's My Turn" in the mid-00s when she returned to performing in LA. It was way more impressive than OP's clip.

I think Dionne's version of I Say a Little Prayer is definitive. Always felt Aretha oversang on her version.

Her Jump To It album, produced by Luther Vandross, was the best one he produced for a female artist. Second being Cheryl Lynn's Instant Love.

R8 here. When I heard her sing If Ever I would Leave You, I was impressed at how much control and restraint the young Aretha used when singing that song and yet she was able to infuse it with emotion.

There were two other songs from that earlier time, Skylark, and God Bless the Child, that she sang beautifully. Aretha didn't take care of her voice. It was inconsistent. She smoked. She drank, but never to excess, She didn't do drugs like Whitney, or drink herself stupid like Mariah, but she didn't take care of herself or her voice and it grew harsh. When she was young it was more melodic.

R12, she sounded good for decades, even through the end of the 90s. Mariah's voice deteriorated in 7 years.

Watching the docu-series “1971” and i love the coverage of her

singular. unmatched because she was a complete original.

I'll always remember Re for being the absolute worst dressed female celebrity of all time.

I saw Aretha here at NJPAC in Newark not too long before she died. Her voice was more restrained and weakened but still in fine form, and there was a moving and deeply vulnerable moment at the very end when she simply asked us all: “Please pray for me” then left the stage.

I’m not a Christian whatsoever, but one of my all time favorite songs from Aretha is her ‘87 gospel duet with Mavis Staples. Possibly the best ever performance of Oh Happy Day.

R16, at first, I thought "this isn't so bad". And then I saw the boobs...

Love her torch-song tunes’ albums output on iTunes from her early 1960s Columbia Records career days. That soaring young voice and the lush orchestral arrangements!

YES, R8!! 😍🎶

I didn’t buy any of her records until Who’s Zoomin’ Who, and through the ‘60s and ‘70s, I bought all the records.

It's a shame that Aretha's 80s output isn't as fondly remembered these days. It was just as great as the music of the DL over-discussed 80s divas.

Another "what was she thinking" moment.

Damn Ree Ree, that's some Dollar Store Bob Mackie there @ r23

R23, that's a boob hammock. She seemed to love those in the 70s.

And in her later years at her heaviest, she dressed like she was a size two. Low-cut, clingy gowns holding up the massive titties. But she didn’t like being told what to do…so no one was willing to tell her what she looked like.

When George Michaels tour hit Detroit in 1988 Re showed up for a duet

& the crowd went WILD!

I never cared that much for her except for a few of her recordings. I love, love, love "Until You Come Back to Me", a perfect pop song.

But listen to "If Ever I Would Leave You" at R8. It is a gorgeous interpretation. Beautiful phrasing.

It shows what we was capable of.

Whitney, could not come close to that. Aretha had musical intelligence. Whitney was dumb.

"There's A Place For Us" from "West Side Story". A whole new look at the song.

I attended a birthday party for some prominent Detroit guy as a plus one, and Aretha was there and she had on this long flowing sheer chiffon coat with a sort of pastel tie dyed effect, and a halter top with satin-ish shorts. Yes. SHORTS. And her belly sort of seeped out of her halter top. She wore a w ig with very long wavey hair, and she s at the head table all night and refused to speak to anyone.

It was pretty funny when she died on Madonna's Big Birthday 🎈

Well somebody has to post this video. I'm sure Carole King made more money off of Aretha's version of this song than her own.

I'm a terrible gay, but I have never enjoyed her voice. I'm happy others enjoy her music, but I avoid it as much as possible.

Oh don't beat yourself up r32 , you just have terrible taste in music.

Unmatched

They added some zip to her vocals and gave her a new face in this video.

Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing

As noted, Aretha got her fashion inspiration from Divine in Pink Flamingos.

[quote] Aretha had musical intelligence. Whitney was dumb.

Aretha was extremely intelligent when it came to creating music but Whitney wasn't dumb. Clive Davis just hated the idea of "his" artists writing their own songs. I believe it was Whitney's idea to begin "I Will Always Love You" with an acapella. That was a very smart decision. And her song writers have consistently said she was very specific in how she wanted to sing each song. Celine Dion is the opposite. I don't think she's "dumb", but she's been said to just sing songs the way she's told by songwriters and then just walk out of the studio.

"House that Jack Built" is my favorite Franklin song. Whenever it comes on, I wind up doing some Hallmark Channel white lady dancing all around the house.

I just can't help it.

Also, I love the story (I might have read it on here first) about Franklin demanding cash to perform at Carole King's Kennedy Center Honors and her keeping it with her on stage in her purse so no one would take it.

Could be total bullshit, but I pretend it is 100% fact.

this is the one that got me hooked

R39 I don't know if she did it at the Kennedy Center, but I do know she was notorious for doing it. A friend of my sisters worked as her bodyguard for a short time, (She was a total Diva) and her "show me the money" was real.

Here's why Aretha Franklin always carried her purse on stage

what old uncle sam don't know isn't gonna hurt him

Aretha wasn't just showing up at concert halls and expecting a big bag of cash. She had show contracts to confirm her cash income. Given the decades she was doing this practice, she was likely beng closely watched by the IRS every year.

They were watching, but ReRe wasn’t reporting it all.

After she died, her estate paid off the $7.8 million owed to the IRS for tax years 2010 to 2017.

One of the true greats. Unstable life and at times erratic behavior on stage and off. But when healthy and stable absolutely sublime. And she could sing almost anything.

And, R46, being treated for pancreatic cancer which she survived far, far longer than most people: eight years from diagnosis to death.

One of the best to ever do it.